Twilight Sun
by alicia-megan
Summary: What if there was another Cullen? Meet Ruth Elizabeth Cassandra Bennett Cullen, a 344 year old vampire stuck inside a 16-year-old's body. Basically, what we would do if we were in Twilight. Our first fan-fic, so be nice! Regular pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: We do not own Twilight or Midnight Sun, all direct quotes from either story are property of Stephanie Meyer and are used to keep the story as close to the book as possible.**

**This is our first fan-fic, so please review and don't be too mean!!! Constructive critizism is welcome.**

**Thanks and enjoy!!!!**

**Alicia and Megan**

**___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________**

**Chapter 1**

I hated school. Not because of something any normal teenager would hate, but rather just the fact of pretending to learn all this stuff for the first time again was torture. In fact, I had taken Grade 11 so many times, I can't even remember how many. And that's a big thing for a vampire.

"Ruth, are you coming or are you going to run?" Edward called to me from outside.

I sighed. "Just a sec, I'll be there."

I checked my hair, which was curly and mostly light brown with blond and red undertones, picked up my bag and was at his silver Volvo in literally a second and a half. I gave him the best puppy dog eyes I could. I really wanted to drive his Volvo, I loved it. And Carlisle had borrowed my electric blue Camero so I couldn't drive that today.

He laughed at my attempt. "Nice try, Ruthie, but you're going to have to do better than that."

"Don't call me Ruthie!" I said, defensively, my slight British accent slipping through. "Obsessive jerk." I added, muttering darkly, opening the passenger door and sat on the shiny leather seat.

He just laughed again and got in to start the engine.

Once we were on the highway to town, I placed my hand lightly on his forearm to begin our usual silent conversation before school.

_So_, I began, _Do you think today will be any different than any other day?_

_  
Probably not. Why do you ask?_

The repetitiveness is going to drive me insane faster than Emmett can, and that's saying something.

He frowned. _You two get along fine, though._

_  
For now. When the lame jokes start coming, I tune him out. But you're right . . . we're good friends when Rosalie isn't around telling me to bugger off._

We laughed as he pulled into the school parking lot next to Rose's highly noticeable red BMW M3 convertible which was where the rest of our family was standing around.

Emmett had always picked on Edward and I about our lack of . . . to put it in Emmett speak, 'doin' the deed'. He was never really that creative with the insults though, just the same stuff he told us half a century ago. Edward ignored it while I came up with better and better come-backs each time, giving me a near royalty status in our big brother's books, so we got along just fine.

I got out of the car and stood over by Emmett, who made me look as small as Alice was normally. When she stood beside Emmett, it was an odd sight.

"Hey, Em. Who are you planning to torment today?" I asked.

"Ben Cheney." He answered matter-of-factly.

"Good luck, mate." I said, punching his arm playfully, though the force of it would have easily shattered the arm of a human.

"The bell's going to go in 3 seconds." Alice said and it did.

She and Jasper walked one way, while Edward and I walked the other toward the math classroom.

So began another boring day at Forks High School.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

When the bell went for lunch hour, I was happy to be out of the classrooms. They were hot and cramped and I hadn't hunted in a while. I had to try a little more than usual to not attack them, though it was still pretty easy because I've been resisting for about 3 and a half centuries.

I walked with Edward to the table in the cafeteria we usually sat at with our family. When we reached it, I sat down and Edward went to get a tray of food so we could pretend to eat it.

The rest of our family soon came after and sat with us. We never talked much at lunch, mostly so no one would over-hear us.

Alice was having a silent conversation with Edward that I truly didn't want to be part of. I took one look at Jasper and had no problem figuring out what they were thinking about.

Edward kicked Jasper's chair.

"Sorry," Jasper muttered.

"You weren't going to do anything." Alice was lying through her teeth. We were all on edge because we hadn't ate in 2 weeks, myself, 4.

We had to stick together, Edward, Alice and I. It wasn't easy, hearing people's thoughts, seeing the future and being able to help advance it for others and to use for yourself. Freaks among freaks, as Emmett said.

". . . her mother invited Esme to that garden party, remember?" My mind came in just as Alice finished talking about the girl whom Jasper wanted to kill.

"I know who she is." Jasper said rudely.

Edward looked frustrated about something and he gently touched his arm against mine.

_What?_ I asked; mad at his use of my power without asking me. The thoughts of everyone overwhelmed me, especially because there are so many people in this cafeteria. He usually asked before using my help.

My power was different, even for vampires. By just touching someone with a power, I could use it for my own and enhance it, making it stronger.

_The girl at that table over there. The brunette, I can't read her thoughts so I was seeing if with your help I could, but I still can't. I found out from the others, her name is Isabella Swan._

I tried for a second to read her mind, but I couldn't either.

_That's odd. I should have made it work. I never met anyone like this before in my 344 years. Oh, and she prefers just Bella._

I could hear Jasper was having more trouble so I moved my right arm from Edward and placed my left hand on Jasper's hand; I never used more than one power at a time. The emotions of everyone in the room overwhelmed me for a moment, but I controlled and focused my calm energy to Jasper, using his power against him.

When I felt he was calm again, I started to pull my hand away, but Jasper grabbed it. I gave him a questioning look. He looked from Edward to Bella. I focused on Edward's emotions and felt something I never did before from him. It was love, it was faint and harboured deep inside, but there. I turned my attention to Bella, and I felt the same thing from her. I gazed wide-eyed at Jasper and he nodded. The love was for each other.

This could be interesting. And that poor Bella having to put up with his over-anylistic ways . . . Why not me? Why couldn't Edward and I be together, as Carlisle had intended? Whatever, that was history, literally. I still was in a slight shock of surprise when Jasper let go of my hand as soon as he understood I realized what he did. But just before, I felt anger from him. I couldn't see why, the two had never met, so no worry . . . yet.

"Shall we?" Rosalie murmured.

"That Bella's pretty, isn't she?" I asked Edward quietly after we had left the cafeteria and we were now standing in the trees by the parking lot.

"I guess."

"She likes you." I stated matter-of-factly.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it is so. And you like her too."

That was one step too far.

He was advancing on me and Emmett stepped in between us, one hand on my shoulder the other on Edward's. "Whoa, there kids! No need to fight."

"Let me go Emmett!" I growled, struggling to break my brother's tight grip on my arm. Edward was doing the same. My anger always got the best of me. I hadn't fed in weeks, nearly a month and the strain kept me on edge.

Emmett looked at Rosalie. "A little help here?"

She came over and pinned my arms behind my back while Emmett spun Edward around and did the same. At least he had the consideration to pick her over Jasper; I didn't want to feel Edward's hatred for me right now. I was weaker than most of my family, due to being the one of the oldest, so my siblings had no problem holding me back when my temper got the best of me.

"Tell me exactly what's going on." Jasper said calmly. "Exactly."

"I . . . I think Edward likes the new girl." I said and stopped struggling. I was always a little resentful of the other females in the house because they had found their soul mates and I have not. Edward had undeniably found his and he was going to let her slip away. I had been thinking about this and he defiantly picked it up.

Silence fell over us.

"I don't know for sure, but I can feel it, even without you, Jazz. I'm good at picking up on such things. I feel from all of you every day." I hung my head.

Jasper turned to Edward. "I have no clue what she's talking about." He said.

"Jasper, if you could please calm these two down before they rip each other to shreds; that would be great." Emmett muttered as Edward was still trying to escape his hold.

"Oh, right."

The calm immediately fell over me, hiding my anger for now.

"Can we let you go?" Rosalie asked.

I nodded and she released me. Emmett did the same for Edward.

"But, we should be careful. Edward, if this goes wrong. . ." Rosalie said.

"She's not one of us." Emmett said seriously.

From across the parking lot, the bell to go to class rang. Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper all headed off to their senior classes while Edward went to biology and I to chemistry.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I walked into chemistry just before the bell for class to begin rang and sat at my empty desk. The students looked frightened of me, not surprising me, as my eyes looked like they were on fire when I was mad, or at least that's what Carlisle said.

The teacher began and not ten minutes after, Eric Yorkie walked in late.

"Sorry." He said. "I was talking to Coach Clapp."

The teacher nodded and continued on with the lesson. Eric sat beside me, as usual, which I hated.

He waved at me and I just nodded back, not looking at him. He was so annoying. I was waiting for the usual question of if I would go on a date with him. I always said no, but he was persistent.

Sure enough, he passed me a note.

_What are you doing on Saturday? If you aren't doing anything, do you want to go to a movie with me in Port Angeles?_

I took my pen and wrote with my neat writing beneath what he did.

_I have plans. Camping with my family. __**Please**__ stop asking me, I don't thin__k of you that way._

**  
**  
I passed the note back and saw the look of disappointment on his face, but he finally truly seemed to take what I said to heart.

The rest of the period sped by and next was Spanish with my brothers Edward and Emmett. I really was still annoyed with Edward; we hardly ever fought. And this was such a trivial thing; I was being my old, human self, jumping to conclusions. That's how I ended up as a vampire. But that time the conclusion I came to was right.

I walked in and sat in my usual spot next to Emmett. I waited for Edward so I could tell him I was sorry, but he never came.

_I'm sorry, Edward. I'm so sorry. I was being a jerk._

All I could do now was hope he heard me.

Emmett was whispering nonsense at me and was ticking me off. He should have known better than to get me even angrier than I already was and for that, we got a detention after class.

After Mrs. Goff let Emmett and I go from our detention, I walked with Emmett over to Jasper and Alice, who looked really worried.

"Alice, what did I miss?" I asked.

"Edward's running away."

"I guess that means I need a ride with you guys, then," I said, trying to hide my shock. I couldn't shake the feeling it was partially my fault.

Rosalie came and we hopped into her convertible. We were silent on the way to our house.

As soon as the car stopped, I jumped out, walked into the house and went to my room. I needed to be alone and think.

No one would bother me until they thought I was alright . . . or until Alice told them when I was going to be alright. I needed to escape the feeling of guilt I had. I felt horrible; I didn't want to believe I had helped Edward make his decision to leave. He'd come back . . . it was like the last time he left, but I hoped it wouldn't be 10 years later, I needed him sooner. He was like my brother more than the others, merely because we'd known each other longer.

I grabbed one of my favourite books of this century then went to my stereo, pressed play, not knowing what CD I had in there, and the song "Should've Said No" by Taylor Swift greeted me. I sat on my window seat and opened the book. I listened to the entire CD before I heard and smelt Esme coming up the stairs.

I put a scrap paper I was using for a bookmark between the pages and turned off the stereo. "Come in." I called.

Esme opened my door, came in and closed it behind her.

"Tough day?" She asked.

"Very. Edward's gone. I bet the others told you. It was my fault . . . well, partially."

She shook her head sadly. "It's not your fault, Ru. Don't ever think it was."

Esme was the only person I allowed to call me "Ru"; she made it up back in the days before she was a vampire.

Back in the 1920's, Carlisle, Edward and I lived in Columbus and I met Esme when she was 16. We became good friends and she met Carlisle for the first time when she broke her leg after falling out of a tree. She couldn't stop talking about how good looking he was after that. We moved away when she turned 20, but not far. When she was 26, we had learned she jumped off a cliff after losing her newborn son. Carlisle went back to Columbus to see if it was possible to save her from death, and it was. So here she was today, seeing me more of a daughter than a childhood friend.

"But I do Ez, I do." I sobbed dryly, hugging her.

"I don't know what to tell you, but I can say Edward will come back." She said, hugging me back.

It felt good to tell someone. I knew I shouldn't keep it to myself.

"Carlisle had something to tell you." She said, after I pulled away from the hug.

I gave her a puzzled look and we went downstairs, her arm over my shoulder.

"Hey Carlisle, what's up?" I asked.

He looked guiltily at me. "You know how I borrowed your car this morning?"

"Yes . . ." I did not like where this was going.

"Well, Edward came by and he wanted to go and not stop, but his car was almost out of gas…"

"You gave him my Camero?!" I said, slightly angry because I had no idea when Edward was coming back, slightly surprised because it was not like Carlisle to lend other people's things without asking. I stared at him in shock for a moment. I love my Camero!

He shrugged. "It had a full tank."

"So does that mean I get at least one joy ride in his Volvo as payment after he takes a joy ride in my Camero?" I asked, the sarcasm in my voice obvious.

Carlisle nodded. "Actually, he said you could use it until he came back. He felt terrible about using your car, you know him."

I guess there was one upside to Edward being gone, but he must have felt horrible; he never let's anyone drive his car . . . ever. It was sort of an apology gift. I needed to think of something good to say to him when he got back . . . whenever that was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone!!! Once more, neither of us are Stephanie Meyer *SOB* and do not own Twilight anything (well, we do have the books!!!). Well, anyway, anyway, anyway, here's Chapter 2!!!!**

**Alicia and Megan**

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**Chapter 2  
**"Alice, is he coming back soon?" I asked for the eighty-fourth time in the past six days Edward had been in Denali.

She stared at the wall for a minute then said, "Yes. Tonight."

My heart leaped with joy. He was coming back! I missed him much more than I should have. He was more than a friend; he was a brother, a son, very much like my own. He died hundreds of years ago, but that never stopped me from missing him and my family.

I had to hide my happiness and save it for later, the humans surrounding us in the English classroom would have definitely noticed the change in my mood; I had been slightly depressed with Edward gone.

The rest of the day sped by faster than any other I had existed.

When the bell released me from my last class, I walked as fast as I could while still looking human to the shiny Volvo waiting for me. I got in and the rest of my family did too. I couldn't hide my excitement any more.

_Edward's coming back!_ I thought, a grin on my face.

I pulled out of the parking lot and drove to our house standing solitary in the woods.

"Edward's coming back home." Alice said as I sped down the highway, nearly as happy as I was.

"Excellent, I can challenge him to a rematch." Emmett was still upset Edward had beat him in an arm wrestling match before he left, and he had already got his revenge on Jasper.

I looked at Rosalie in the rear view mirror. She was acting indifferent to our brother coming back.

"Come on Rose, you know you missed him!" Alice said. Rose just glared at her.

I pulled up into the garage and parked in between my Camero and Rosalie's BMW.

Alice and I bounded into the house, surprising Esme in the sitting room.

"Edward's coming home!" We said simultaneously.

Esme still looked surprised, probably because of the fact we were acting like little sisters of a brother that had gone away for months, not days.

The true reason of our excitement was we were not the Cullens without him. Each of us had a role in this family. Carlisle the compassionate father, Esme the loving mother, Emmett the older brother and protector, Jasper the caring, sensitive middle brother, Rosalie the conceited older sister, Alice the eccentric middle sister, Edward was the loyal, brave younger brother and I was the youngest of them all, with a little bit of each of their personalities within me, except for Rosalie's pig-headedness, and the one everyone thought they had to protect from the dangers of the world, but didn't. If it wasn't for the fact we were vampires, we would be like any large, human family.

Esme smiled at the prospect of having her youngest son back at home. "That's wonderful! When?"

"Today! In 3 hours and 42 minutes." Alice practically squealed.

Those 3 hours and 42 minutes seemed to pass by much slower than the rest of the day. Finally I heard the door open and smelled Edward scent wafting in.

I let everyone that wanted to say hello before I did, I wanted to be last.

"It's great to have you back." Esme said, hugging him.

"You made the right choice." Carlisle said. He looked at Esme and a small shock like electricity went through me. I was always a bit jealous at how he looked at her because once, long ago, he looked at _me_ like that.

Jasper glanced at me, picking up on my emotions and gave me a curious look. I gave him my 'tell-you-later' look and he turned to Edward and nodded, he wasn't much for talking. The complete opposite of Alice who could say a hundred words a minute.

"Eddie! You owe me an arm wrestling match!" Emmett boomed as he walked in the room.

Edward flinched at Emmett's nickname for him.

"Edward, I knew you'd come back!" Alice walked gracefully over to him to give him a hug.

"Of course you did Alice," Edward said with an eye-roll.

Rosalie was still pretending to be indifferent.

My turn. Everyone dispersed around the house, leaving us alone.

"Edward, I . . ." I began.

_I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I just . . ._ I trailed off in my head.

"We were hungry. It was the monster hidden inside getting angry, not you. I was also on edge. Forgive me." He said, golden eyes reflecting the soft light inside.

"Forgive you?! You should forgive me!" I said, surprised. "I was the jerk, not you! Only you could be sorry for something you didn't do."

He chuckled lightly. "Alright, I forgive you, Ruth."

"I forgive you." I said and hugged him tight, temporarily forgetting the consequence of touching him.

The thoughts of everyone in Forks swept into my mind like I was listening to hundreds of songs at once, but I ignored the pain. Edward was back and that was all that mattered.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"It's going to be OK." Alice whispered.

I rolled my eyes, "No duh, Al. We don't need to see the future to know that. Edward's under control."

"I only wish he could see that…" Alice whispered.

We entered the rundown cafeteria in sort of a fashion like bodyguards around a celebrity, Edward being the celebrity. Emmett definitely fit the bill of bodyguard sporting dark clothes and sunglasses. Why he would have sunglasses where its overcast nearly every day beats me . . . we can't even go out around humans when there _is_ sun.

"Of course it's going to be fine." Edward hissed.

Alice came out of her trance and focused on Edward. "I think you're right."

"_Of course _I'm right." Edward and I whispered at exactly the same time.

_Jinx!_ I thought with a crooked grin to him.

We sat at our table and waited for Bella Swan to come. I noticed Edward wasn't breathing, not that we had to as it was just reflexive from our human lives and we needed to breath to be able to smell.

". . . must not have said anything." Edward was answering Jasper's question of whether or not Bella talked to anyone about her strange encounter with him last week.

"Maybe you're not as scary as you think." Emmett said with a chuckle. "Ruth could've frightened her better."

Edward rolled his eyes as I lapsed into giggles. I couldn't of; I saw what Edward looked like from some people that were in the classroom from a previous escapade into the minds of the people of Forks.

"She's coming in. Try to look human." Alice whispered.

"Human you say?" Emmett said with an evil grin.

_Oh no! Please not me!_ I thought desperately. I saw Emmett earlier taking a fistful of snow from a small pile in his big hand. Obviously, it would never melt.  
He lobbed the hunk of ice at Alice, who clearly saw it coming, and she flicked it away and it flew across the room too fast for humans to notice into the brick wall where it cracked itself and the wall.

I tried to hold in my laughter, but couldn't. Edward laughed to but it was controlled, he was faking it.

_Have some fun, Edward. Please, for me? If not for me for Alice 'cause she will be very upset if you don't follow her plan._ I saw his true laughter come out at my thought.

"Very human Emmett. What next? Punch the wall?" Rosalie scathed.

"It would look more impressive if you did it, baby."

I bumped into Edward accidentally in my fit of laughter and cringed at Emmett's thoughts.

"Ewwww. Why do you have to be so sexual?" I asked, still cringing.

"Why do you have to _not_ be?" He replied.

"That makes no sense, Emmett." Jasper said, then added under his breath, nearly so quiet our family couldn't hear, but we knew Edward was listening. "Ruth, last night you . . ."

"No way am I telling you with these people around." I muttered back, glancing at Edward. "Of course, now you bring it up, I'm going to have to tell _him_."

Edward looked at me and I glared at him. He smiled slightly. "What will you have to tell Jasper and I?"

"_I_ don't have to tell either of _you_ anything! It's my life so drop it." I said, leaning back and crossing my arms.

By now, our whole family was watching us three.

"What?" I asked darkly. "Can't a girl have her secrets?"

"Not with a mind reader." Edward said.

I sighed at their persistence. "Fine, later. But only Jaz and Edward. If you two tell anyone else, God so help me . . ."

Edward tensed.

"So, you kill one human, it's not the end of the world." Emmett said.

"You would know." Edward retorted.

"Eternity is a long time to wallow in guilt." For once, Emmett was being serious and his advice applied to more than one of us.

How true, eternity _was_ a long time to feel guilty over something. I felt the eyes of Edward and Jasper on me, both picking up on my thoughts and emotional turmoil.

_I said LATER!_ I thought.

Just then, Alice flung a snowball at Emmett and hit him squarely in the unsuspecting Emmett's face.

He looked stunned for a second, then grinned mischievously.

"You asked for it."

He leaned across the table and shook his head, spraying bits of ice on Alice and Rosalie, the two nearest to him.

We all laughed at Rosalie's disgust and Alice holding her tray up as a shield.

Emmett put a hand through his hair, collecting what was left and threw it at me suddenly. The snow/ice mixture hit my shirt. I stared at him, stunned.

"You didn't!" I said, looking down at my favorite t-shirt. "I will get you back, prepare for revenge!"

I spent the rest of the lunch period planning my revenge. When the bell went, my family made no move to leave.

"I think it's okay . . ." Alice hesitated. "Your mind is set; you should be able to make it through the hour."

"Why push it? Go home and take some time." Jasper said, happy for once the concern was not placed on him.

"Either he'll kill her or he won't. Might as well get it over with either way it goes." Emmett shrugged.

"I don't want to move." Rosalie complained. "We're nearly out of high school, Emmett, _finally_!"

For once, I agreed with her. I didn't want to move; Forks was beginning to grow on me again. I reached over and touched Alice's arm.

The future was turning better for Edward . . . and Bella.

"The future is stronger, you'll be fine, Edward." I said, still looking ahead to what could be.

"Go to class." Edward urged as he got up to go to biology.

I got up too and caught up to him.

"You'll be fine." I said, reassuringly.

He just nodded and we walked to our classes.

Chemistry hadn't started yet when I walked in. Eric sat beside me as usual. I was in a good mood; no doubt Jasper's doing, who was in chemistry too, but a different class.

"Hi, Ruth. How are you?" Eric said timidly.

"Good, why do you ask?" I was curious to know what he was thinking, but I had a good idea.

"Oh, well . . . errrrr . . . you just look happier than you have been in a while." Exactly what I thought. I was a bit upset when Edward was gone and I had fed the night before.

"I am." I replied. "As you probably noticed, Edward is back and I missed him terribly, he _is_ my brother after all."

My story to everyone in Forks was that Edward and I were brother and sister, so it was right for me to feel sad about him being gone.

"Errrr . . ."

Oh no here he goes again.

"There's a comic-con in Seattle this weekend. Do you want to come with me? Just as a friend, I mean."

So he was still persistent. I believed none of his 'just as a friend' thing.

"Eric, we've been through this over and over again. I'm sorry, I truly am, but no. I _really_ don't think of you that way. I think you should ask Angela, you seem to have the same interests." The last bit was a lie, but I hoped he would take my advice.

"Oh, sure." He sounded so sad.

"Hello," I suddenly heard Edward say in the voice he always used when trying to not scare human in his biology class. Was he talking to Bella?

"Yes," he muttered low enough so no one but me would hear.

"My name is Edward Cullen. I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan," I heard him continue.

At this point I was totally focused on Edward and Bella's conversation, totally ignoring our lecture on covalent bonding.

"How do you know my name?" She demanded in a shaky voice.

"Oh, I think everyone knows your name. The whole town's been waiting for you to arrive."

"No, I mean why did you call me Bella?"

"Do you prefer Isabella?'

"No, I like Bella. But I think Charlie - I mean my dad - must call me Isabella behind my back. That's what everyone seems to know me as."

"Ruth! Ruth!? What is the answer to question 4?" My teacher demanded, bringing me back to my class.

"Iron," I answered, remembering the answer from the work I finished in class yesterday. I then quickly started listening to Edward and Bella again.

I heard Edward breathe because if he was going to continue talking, he would need air. I heard him having a hard time controlling himself.

_Come on Edward! Control! You can do it! _I encouraged.

"I'm fine. And thanks," he muttered.

"Get started," Mr. Banner commanded. I realized they were doing an experiment with onion root.

"Ladies first, partner?" Edward asked kindly.

"Or I could start if you wish."

"No, I'll go first."

Wow. I could practically hear the chemistry between those two. I had this weird feeling our lives were about to change drastically. This is weird for a vampire because we are frozen in a body of one age. Something really radical has to happen to inflict change like the one I was feeling may happen.

"Me too." Edward responded to my thoughts.

After Bella identified the phase of the onion root, she started to remove the slide.

"Mind if I take a look?" Edward asked. Then I heard Bella gasp in surprise and him apologize. What just happened?

For the rest of the experiment, they were just saying one word at a time. It seemed to be a little awkward.

"Did you get contacts?" Bella suddenly blurted out.

"No," Edward sounded amused. Why would he need to see better?

"Oh," she mumbled, "I thought there was something different about your eyes."

Oh my. Bella was way more observant then we thought. Edward's eyes, of course, are light amber right now, just like any vegetarian vampire's eyes are after they quenched their thirst.

Too bad he didn't just answer yes to the contact question. I don't think Bella will believe our human façade much longer.

I heard Mr. Banner accuse Edward of doing the whole experiment, but then figured out Bella was in an advanced science course in Phoenix, where she used to live. Not surprising. She seems pretty intelligent.

For the rest of the time, they discussed why Bella moved to Forks. Her mother remarried and she sent herself to Forks so she could travel with her new husband, a minor league baseball player. Bella is so…selfless. She's so perfect for Edward. I hope they can somehow be together.

Edward was totally fascinated by her. He was hanging on to her every word. Okay maybe that's an overstatement but I've never seen him like this before.

The class was almost over and I really wanted to get to Spanish as soon as I could. I wanted to talk to Edward.

Around 10 minutes before the bell rang, my phone began to vibrate. Luckily, the teacher had the radio on, so no one heard it. I flipped it open and read the text Alice sent me.

_Ed not OK. Going 2 c. Dont wry, under control. Alice._

_What? He seems fine with Bella. Then again he's always put on a good show._I texted her back.

_R u sure? I can leave if u need me 2. Ruth._

When no reply came, I assumed everything was alright. As soon as the bell rang, I met up with Emmett outside the door to our Spanish class.

"How d'you think he did?" He asked.

I didn't really want to tell Emmett about how perfect they are for each other. Edward was tense enough without Emmett bothering him.

"Well, he didn't kill her or anyone else. I saw people walking out of the room. I also heard him talking to her." Did I see disappointment in his expression?

"Emmett, did you want him to mess up?" I asked, incredulously.

"Sure, he's always been Mr. Perfect."

I shook my head, part in disbelief and part in disagreement.

Just then, we smelled Edward heading our way and we both saw the wild look in his eyes.

"Nobody died." Edward mumbled a response to Emmett's thought.

_Edward, I expected nothing less. You are the most controlled after Carlisle and me. I don't think you would've killed her anyway; I've always believed in you from the start._

He smiled at me as he slumped into his seat and me next to him and Emmett on my other side in our row of desks at the very back of the room then answered Emmett. "I didn't realize I was that close . . . I didn't realize it was that bad."

He must be referring to Alice, now. I leaned my arms on the table, touching Edward's; making it look like lack of space was causing it.

_. . . a person smells too good. I'm impressed you've lasted this long._ I caught the end of Emmett's thoughts.

"Not helping, Em!" I warned, hearing Edward's distress over the fact that Emmett was accepting of him killing this one girl.

_I know when it happened to me . . ._

Emmett began reminiscing about some old lady that smelled really good. When he remembered her taste, I punched him hard in the arm when Edward stood up suddenly, breaking our contact.

"Ow." He said. "That actually hurt!"

"You idiot!" I whispered. "Can't you tell he's been through enough!? You're making us attract attention."

Sure enough, Mrs. Goff came over to check on us.

"Esta bein, Edward?" She asked.

"Me perdona." Edward muttered and got up to leave the class.

Senora Goff asked Emmett to see if he was alright and I was upset she didn't ask me, but I just nodded at Emmett.

_Take a break. Trust me, it helps._

Emmett came back about 5 minutes later and we didn't get in trouble the entire class; a record for us without Edward around. Most of it I spent dealing with how I could explain my thoughts and emotions around Carlisle and Esme without giving everything away while Edward was, most likely, trying to block everyone out and Jasper across the grounds.

I kept thinking about how Esme might kill me if she could for what I had felt about . . . no, stop. That was centuries ago, get over it!

The bell went, startling me slightly due to my lack of paying attention.

"C'mon Ruth, let's go." Emmett said, grabbing my arm.

We left the room and went straight to the Volvo.

"Edward, are you alright?" Jasper asked.

"Great." He muttered, indicating he was not alright at all.

"I can drive if you want me to?" I asked, hoping he'd say yes. I had loved driving the Volvo so much.

"I . . . nice try, I'll drive." Edward smiled. "And about at lunch . . ."

I rolled my eyes. "Tomorrow, alright?"

"Good enough for me." Jasper replied.

Excellent, now I had this to look forward to of all things.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Sorry it always takes us so long to update. There's two of us writing and Alicia doesn't have Word and we have lives (I think). I know, lame excuses.**

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**HERE'S CHAPTER 3!! FINALLY!**

**Chapter 3**

"Ruth? What are you doing here?" Edward asked from the ground.

I looked down from the branch I was sitting on, well over 10 feet higher than where Edward and Carlisle now stood.

"Thinking." I replied.

I heard and smelled them long before they got to the same place I was, that way I could change my thoughts before Edward was within hearing distance. I wanted to talk to Carlisle alone for just a few minutes to get figure out what I would say to Jasper and Edward without giving my deepest, darkest secret away because he would know what to do, Carlisle usually did.

"About what?" Carlisle asked.

"Edward and Jasper have manipulated me into telling them something I really don't want to. Can I talk to you?" I said.

They had been bothering me non-stop for the past 2 hours to tell them because it was past midnight which was clearly, in every country, considered 'tomorrow'.

Carlisle instantly knew what meant. The men looked at each other briefly and Edward nodded. "I'll meet you back at the house."

"Stay away, Edward. I want to talk to him truly alone." I called down.

He glared at me before running off to the house. Carlisle nimbly climbed up and sat next to me.

He looked at me knowingly. "It's about what I think it's about, isn't it?"

"Yes." Then I remembered what I never told him before. "And no."

"They want you to tell them what?"

"Why I always feel a bit jealous, upset and mad when . . ."

". . . when I look at Esme." He finished.

I nodded. "It's just . . . it's exactly the same, and I mean _exactly_ the same, as when you used to look at me. And every time I see you two it kills me to know I once had love. Even around the others, Rose and Em, Jazz and Al, it's just so hard! Even Edward is starting to make me jealous . . . he's too curious about that human girl, it just doesn't make sense. I think the course of time will lead them to be together. I don't need to be able to see the future to see _that_."

I left out the part I'd been hiding from everyone, even Carlisle, but I had to come up with another story for the boys; I couldn't tell them Carlisle and I had been together before, so I would tell them another story, all true, but not the full reason I felt the way I did.

Carlisle thought for a moment. "You seem to think about this a lot. How does Edward not know?"

"Before Bella, I did a really good job not thinking about it. If she and Edward work it out and they stay together, I'll be the only Cullen alone; this would make it nearly unbearable.

"Ruth, you're never alone. We're always here for you," Carlisle comforted.

"Lately I've been trying to think about it whenever he's not around, so when he was gone, it was bittersweet. I had the time I needed to think out things, but I missed him terribly."

"Is there anything you can tell me I don't know?" He asked. "It might help me help you."

Could I really tell him this? "I think I still love you. Well, not so much now, but ages ago."

We sat in silence.

"Really?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes, but it's more of a memory than a true emotion. I . . . it's hard to explain." I finished a bit lamely.

"You know it was the same for me."

"I . . . wait . . . what?!" I asked, taken aback.

"Like you, it is more of a memory than anything else. I feel extremely guilty whenever I am alone with you, like we are now, because it reminds me of when we were human and it makes me feel bad about hurting you."

"You didn't hurt me. I always felt bad about hurting Esme more than anyone. If she found out without you or I telling her, I wouldn't know what to say." I muttered. He never hurt me, I knew nothing would be the same as before when I was first changed, but we still cared about each other.

"True enough. Well, about the boys, tell them only as much as you want to. We ought to be getting back now; I have to go to work soon."

I nodded and we jumped out of the tree and ran back to the house.

I went up to my room to change into fresh clothes for school. It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. Or at least half of it.

All of us Cullens had our insecurities, Edward and his over-protective, perfectionist ways were a cover for him; to hide things he was uncomfortable with. Alice was always over-eccentric to hide the fact she really wanted to know about her human life, Rosalie was mean to the humans because she was jealous they were still living, Emmett was . . . well . . . Emmett; he just tries to be funny to hide his insecurities, Jasper was always quiet because he hated what he had done before he met Alice, and then us. Not talking was the best way not to bring anything up. Esme and Carlisle were pretty normal, not that they'd show anything was wrong, like real parents would. And then there was me, I hid my true emotions because I was afraid of getting hurt again.

I heard Alice's voice from the top of the stairs as clearly as if I was standing next to her.

"Your life seems to be at crossroads." She said.

I hurried down the stairs as I heard Edward laugh. "You do realize you sound like a bogus gypsy at a carnival now, right?"

I got to them just in time to see Alice stick her tongue out at him.

"Edward, you'd better get changed." Alice said.

He nodded and bounded up the stairs past me.

"What's wrong, Alice?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing." She replied in the voice that said there was something wrong.

I sighed. "Edward's planning to leave again, isn't he?"

"How did you know?!"

"I'm not stupid, I can tell." Why would he run away again? I couldn't understand. I had to confront him so he wouldn't make the same mistake I had.

I put my hand on her shoulder and I saw a vision of Edward in a meadow with someone, but it wasn't clear enough to see who it was. All I caught was long, dark brown hair and I knew one person that Edward would want to bring there, but only the future would tell.

"Don't worry, Al, I don't think he's going anywhere too soon." I reassured.

When we were getting ready to go to school in the cars, I called to Jasper and Alice.

"Come with us." I said, gesturing to Edward and myself.

The two came over and got into the backseat of the Volvo. Rosalie and Emmett looked happy to have the BMW to themselves and I was just as happy to leave them alone; today you could practically feel the love pouring out of them. Last night I had to leave because they were so loud.

"Are you going to tell your story?" Alice asked.

"No." _Not to her anyway. It's not like she won't find out anyways. Just you, Edward, for now. Decide to tell her later. Pay attention._ "Later, promise."

He nodded subtly and I began.

_It was in 1914 when Carlisle and I lived in Little Heaven, Delaware and we posed as cousins working in the local hospital together. Ready for a flashback?_

He smiled slightly. I let him see freely into my mind.

_I despised the dresses of this century, they were so stiff. I had worn men's trousers before for a disguise and preferred them over skirts and dresses by far and promised that if girls were ever allowed to wear them, I would never put on another dress again unless absolutely necessary. _

"_Ruth, there's a patient here, Margaret Carmichael. She's 16 and has pneumonia. I said you'd take care of her." Carlisle said._

"_Sure, has she got family?"_

_He nodded. "Parents both 36 and brother 17, they're in the room with her."_

_I walked past him to the room. As I walked in, everyone looked at me. Well, stared, but I was used to it._

"_Hello, I am Ruth Cullen. I will be taking care of Margaret."_

"_I am Harry Carmichael, this is my wife, Elizabeth, our daughter, Margaret, and our son, Matthew." The father said._

_I stared at the son for a few moments. He had jet black hair and hazel eyes. He was tall, around 6 feet, but he wasn't lanky. I could see his muscles underneath his shirt. I felt an emotion I had not felt in so long, but could it be possible?_

"_Pleasure to meet you all."_

I paused for a moment. _Good so far?_

Edward smiled again and I continued.

_Two months passed and Margret's constant visitor was Matthew. He came more than the parents, but I think it was to see me. More flashback._

I took a deep breath and started for the last time.

"_Hello, Miss Cullen!" Matthew called to me across the road as he crossed._

_I looked up, already knowing he was there._

"_Please, call me Ruth." _

"_Alright then, Ruth. Can I ask you something?"_

_I nodded._

"_I saved up some money and I was wondering if you wanted to go to the new Charlie Chaplin movie with me." He blushed._

_I thought about it for a second, but I had to tell him the answer neither of us wanted to hear._

"_Sorry, but I can't. I . . . I don't think of you that way." I looked down, ashamed at myself._

"_Oh, that's fine. Maybe another time." He winked._

_I shook my head. "No. It's much more complicated than you could understand."_

_He grabbed my arm and pulled me into a side alley. "I know it has only been a few months, but I feel as if I could not live without you."_

_I was speechless. I felt the same, but our love was forbidden. He swept a stray hair out of my eyes, touching my cold cheek._

"_Why are you so cold?" He asked. It was a fair question as it was the middle of summer, but not sunny._

_I shrugged. "I have always been." It was hard to lie to him._

_He suddenly pushed me up against the wall of the building behind me and kissed me. I didn't want to stop, but I had to._

"_No. Stop. Please, I'm so sorry . . . I . . . have to go, Carlisle will be waiting for me."_

_I ran away from him and to my house._

_Carlisle was at home, reading this obscure book in Spanish. _

"_I don't want to live here anymore! Let's go somewhere else, Chicago, perhaps. Anywhere but here!" I practically shouted at him._

"_What's wrong?" he asked, instantly concerned._

"_Nothing, I just can't be here anymore!"_

"_Calm down, Ruth. Alright, we'll leave tonight."_

_I don't think Carlisle felt like arguing with me. And as you know, I can be pretty stubborn. I was glad he decided to leave so quickly. I think he knew at least something about Matthew. His scent was all over me._

_By the next morning, we were halfway to Chicago._

Alice suddenly spoke. "I can't be sure, but I'm fairly certain you'll get a second chance at finding love. It's too distant for me to see clearly."

I smiled. "Thanks, Alice, but don't worry. I'll be fine no matter what happens in the future." I hoped she didn't notice the slightly bitter edge in my voice.

When we got out of the car, Alice and Jasper went over to see Rosalie and Emmett while I stayed with Edward by the Volvo.

_She's here now._ I thought. Bella had parked not far from where we were and we watched her get out carefully and look at her tires.

"I can see that." He replied at vampire speed.

_There's nothing wrong with being curious._

"This time there is."

I frowned. _Don't you get it?! I didn't only tell that story to get you guys off my back, it's a lesson! Please don't make the same mistake I did. Please, Edward!_

"What do you want me to do?"

_Prove me wrong! Prove to me that vampires and humans can be together, it would give me peace of mind knowing you're happy. And if you don't you'll regret it._

"And yourself? Don't you want to be happy?"

_I've had my fair share of happiness. It's your turn now. Don't worry about me._

"NO!" I heard Alice say aloud. What in the future did she see?

Just then, Tyler Crowley came around the corner, hitting the ice at the worst possible angle for the parking lot had become like an ice rink.

I grabbed Edward's arm quickly to see what Alice had. I felt my mouth drop open as I saw the conclusion.

_Not her!_ I heard Edward think before he ran at vampire speed to get to Bella who stood beside her truck, frozen with fear.

I saw Edward grab Bella by the waist and place himself between her and the van that seemed to be pulled toward her again like a magnet. I heard him swear quietly, he never swore in front of a woman, well, excluding me.

He stopped the van again, holding above the ground. I took opportunity of the initial distraction to run over to him. I went around between a tan car that had been dented by Tyler's van and Bella's truck and put my hands under the van, holding it up.

"Thanks." He muttered.

"Just get her out of the way." I said, teeth clenched. I placed the van as carefully as I could out of concern for the driver away from Bella and Edward. I subtly fixed the dent in the car when I knew Bella was out of the way.

Until then, I didn't think about the concern for our family, the exposure this could bring. I just wanted to make sure Bella was safe and I knew Edward would never forgive himself if she died when he could've stopped it from happening.

"Is she alright?" He asked.

"I think so, just a bump on the head." I replied, looking over her quickly. "I'll go and attempt to explain."

I ran to to the rest of my family, no one would notice anyway. If they did, they'd convince themselves they just hadn't seen me before.

I was greeted with looks ranging from scorn to pure hatred.

"We couldn't let her die." I said quietly.

"Yes, you could have." Rosalie retorted. "Just because Edward likes playing hero, you don't have to."

"Just because you're an ego-statistical, selfish rich girl doesn't mean I have to be. I'd much rather be a hero than that!" I turned my back to all of them, facing the accident.

I felt Alice's small hand on my shoulder. "I think it was the right thing, but it was a bit foolish . . . and don't say it's not foolish to save someone's life, because it's not. I can see now, clearer than ever, that you were right."

Glimpses of the future flashed in front of my eyes. The vision of Edward in a meadow with some that was blurry was now clear. I had been right; it _was_ Bella sitting there with him.

"I forgive you guys." Emmett said. Of course he'd forgive us, he could never stay mad at one of us . . . it just wasn't like him. He balances Rosalie nicely.

"Thanks."

Silence from Jasper and Rosalie still, but I could feel Jasper emanating anger. Couldn't he just get over it?

"Someone said they saw your sister, Ruth with you." An EMT said to Edward from across the parking lot.

_Tell him yes. That I'm fine, but Carlisle would be worried. I need to talk to him and get away from Rose before either one of us kills the other._

Edward told him what I said to and I walked over when he motioned for me to.

"Are you alright?" The EMT asked.

I smiled reassuringly. "Yes, but of course I'll let my father look at me to make sure I'm OK."

Edward and I followed him and sat in the front of the ambulance. We sat so our shoulders were touching, but that was just the way the cab was; small and cramped.

_Look, it's her dad._ I thought randomly. I realized the police chief's thoughts were nearly as silent as his daughter's, but they were there, unlike Bella's.

_I know, I see where she gets it from now. I wonder if her mother is the same._

The ambulance started to move before either of us could try to decipher his thoughts any further.

When we got to the hospital, we headed straight for Carlisle's small office.

"Carlisle." Edward said.

He looked panicked for a second, probably thinking Edward had killed Bella.

"No, not that." Edward reassured. So I had been right.

"Of course, I'd been entertaining the idea. Your eyes are still the same. But what happened?"

"Errrr . . . there was a car accident and Bella was in the way and would've got killed if Edward hadn't stopped the van. I helped too and now Rosalie looks as though she wants to kill us." I said.

"Wait, slow down. I don't understand."

Edward explained again, but in more detail.

"You both did the right thing, I'm proud. It must not have been easy." Carlisle said.

"Carlisle, she wants an explanation. She knows there's something different about Ruth and me."

"We'll move if necessary."

I frowned. "I don't think we'll have to. Bella won't say a word, she's trustworthy."

"Either way, it sounds like I've got a patient to check on."

Edward and I stayed in Carlisle's office.

"For goodness sake, don't beat yourself up about it! She's fine, we're obviously fine and she will never tell, is that so hard to believe?" I said, exasperated.

"Yes, for me it is. I don't like not being able to read her thoughts."

We were quiet for a little while, and then I broke the silence.

"What's going on down there?"

"Not much." He replied. "The driver, Tyler, was injured more than Bella it seems. He keeps apologizing to her and she doesn't like it; all the attention."

I got up and walked around the small room. "OK, I think I'll go insane if I stay in here any longer, I'm going to Carlisle."

Edward nodded. We walked out into the hallway and I followed Edward to Carlisle. We found him looking at some X-rays, Bella's most likely.

"Well done, she's absolutely fine." He said as he heard us walk in.

"I think I'll talk to her, smooth things over." Edward muttered.

"Yes, good. Hmmmm." Carlisle trailed off. I touched Edward's arm to see what Carlisle was so interested in.

_Look at all those healed contusions! How many times did her mother drop her?_

I dropped my hand and laughed with Carlisle. It felt good after the tension that had been built up.

"I think she's just got really bad luck." I said, still giggling slightly. I began to laugh a bit harder when I remembered that's what my mother said to her friend centuries ago when I turned down every possible husband but one, all which had died mysteriously. Carlisle remembered too and laughed with me.

"I'll be going." Edward said, backing out of the room. He probably felt like he was interrupting our moment.

We stopped laughing after a little while.

"You sound like your mother a lot."

"I know." I said as I hung my head. I missed her so much. "You might want to go free Bella; I think Tyler's getting on her nerves. I'll go see how Edward's doing, come in a few minutes."

He nodded and I walked down to the Emergency Room.

"So, what's the verdict?" I heard Edward ask as I entered the room.

"There's nothing wrong with me at all, but they won't let me go. How come you're not strapped to a gurney like the rest of us?" Bella complained.

I stood beside Edward and answered for him. "It's all about who you know. Don't worry our father's coming to spring you."

As if he'd been waiting for me to say that, which he might have, Carlisle walked in. I looked at Bella's face and smiled widely at her expression which was one most people wore when they first saw Carlisle, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. She pulled herself together more quickly than others I knew.

"How are you feeling Miss Swan?" He said in a calm voice.

"I'm fine." She mumbled.

I stood there awkwardly for a moment. "I'll just go. Meet you in the waiting room?" I looked pointedly at Edward.

_Calm down, you're doing fine._

Edward nodded.

I walked as slowly as I could out the door and towards the waiting room. I saw Chief Swan pacing anxiously back and forth amongst students from Forks High.

"Hello, Chief Swan. I'm Ruth Cullen." I said, stopping his pacing.

"Oh, hello. You helped Bella, right? How is she?"

I nodded. "Bella's fine, honestly. I checked her over immediately after and my father says she just hit her head on the ice." He looked at me questioningly. Damn, should not have said that! "I have an interest in a medical career path, so my father has been teaching me some things. She should be coming down shortly."

"You're not hurt." It was a statement, not a question.

"I'm rather resilient for my size." For some strange reason, I felt bad for lying to him. I must be getting more sensitive.

"That must be useful with your older brothers." He smiled shyly.

I smiled back. "Not that I get to practice it much, my mother stops them from hurting me. Being the youngest has its advantages. Bella told me her mother was in Jacksonville, does she know?" Another lie, I heard Edward thinking about her before.

He looked guilty. "Yeah, and she'll be worried sick about her."

"But at least she knows she's well."

"That won't stop Renee from worrying." He chuckled and I did as well.

Why did I never take interest to talk to Charlie Swan before? He's nice and caring. If anything happened to Bella, he would be crushed, that was obvious. I would take care to note that to Edward.

"It's been great talking to you. You seem much more mature than some of the other girls your age." I would've blushed if I were human.

"Oh, thanks." I walked away and sat down in a chair nearest to the door to the ER.

Their scents caught my attention before the voices.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I heard Bella hiss quietly to Edward.

_Explain to her as best as you can._ I thought.

"Your father is waiting for you." Edward said through clenched teeth.

"I'd like to speak to you alone if you don't mind."

They walked closer to the door to the waiting room.

_Thanks, Edward._

"What do you want?" He asked coldly.

"You owe me an explanation."

"I saved your life - I don't owe you anything."

_Be nice!_

"You promise." She sounded disappointed.

"Bella, you hit your head, you don't know what you're talking about."

"There's nothing wrong with my head."

_She's right, tell her something!_

"What do you want from me?" He was asking us both.

"I want to know the truth. I want to know why I'm lying for you." She was being fair; she deserved to know, but not yet.

_Let her figure it out on her own. She won't tell._

Bella described what happened in her point of view, ending with, " . . . but you were holding it up . . ."

"You think I lifted the van off you?" Edward asked, overdoing the sarcasm.

"Not just you, your sister, Ruth too." She said quietly.

So she was more observant than I gave her credit for.

_Get us out of this!_

"No one will believe that, you know."

"I'm not going to tell anybody." Bella replied slowly, pronouncing each word clearly.

I was shocked. I knew she wouldn't tell, but _why_?

"Then why does it matter?"

"It matters to me." She said strongly. "I don't like to lie - so there better be a good reason why I'm doing it."

"Can't you just thank me and get it over with?" Edward was getting impatient.

"Thank you."

Edward broke the silence, "You aren't going to let it go, are you?"

"No."

"Then I hope you enjoy disappointment." Edward was nearly at the door when I heard Bella say one last thing.

"Why did you even bother?"

_Tell her the truth. You've lied enough._

"I don't know." With that, Edward walked through the door. I got up and followed him out the main entrance and back to the school.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Here's chapter 4 for you! Please Review!**

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**Chapter 4**

In the cafeteria, Edward and I sat at a table of our own, away from our family. I wasn't about to let Rosalie have her chance to keep whispering death threats to us, but unfortunately, I could hear them with Edward's help.

_I am so going to tear you both limb from limb! Putting everything we have here at risk, selfish!_ She kept on thinking nearly the same things.

"Shut up!" I whispered at vampire speed. "Just shut up, will you! For the love of all that is good, leave us alone or so help me and I will tear _you_ limb from limb!" Carlisle may be coven leader, but I was second in command and whenever he wasn't around, it was me in charge; that included school.

I heard Emmett and Alice chuckle then immediately stop when Rose glared at them, but she did stop . . . for now.

_Thanks. _Edward thought.

_No problem. She doesn't scare me, but I bet she wished she did._

Edward was thinking about Bella more and how he wanted to see her.

_I'm a stalker. An obsessed stalker. An obsessed, vampire stalker._ Edward thought miserably.

_Your not a stalker . . . well, maybe you are, but obsessed, no and vampire, defiantly._

_Easy for you to say._

_No, it isn't. I was in your position before, but you're actually doing something about it._

Chemistry went about as well as it could and Spanish began as normally as possible.

_I hope you have a good explanation for what happened today. Rose is on a warpath._ Emmett thought.

"What else is new?" I muttered.

_Look out for Jasper, _Emmett continued. _He's not as angry . . . but he's more resolved._

I saw what Jasper intended to do through Emmett. I heard Edward starting to get really mad.

_SHEESH, EDWARD! GET A GRIP! _Emmett shouted in his head as he grabbed Edward's arm to stop him from getting up.

I grabbed his other arm and we both just held him in place, using our full strength, but not daring to push down in case Edward's chair broke.

_EASY!_ Emmett thought. _Jasper's not going to do anything until we talk. I just thought you should know the direction he's headed._

We loosened our grips when Edward began to relax.

_Try not to make _more_ of a spectacle of yourself. You're in enough trouble as it is. _Emmett thought.

Edward took a deep breath and Emmett and I let go of his arms. Some students were staring at us, but what else was new? The Cullens were freaks - everyone knew that.

Emmett must of thought something, because Edward's reply was, "Bite me."

Emmett chuckled lowly. He wasn't one to hold grudges, but he thought Jasper's plan the best course of action.

Edward looked worried, most likely about what we would face at home, when we, and everyone in our family, could be themselves.

_I'm with you, Edward, no matter what. It'll play out like all other meetings we've had, Esme won't be mad and neither will Carlisle, Alice will make her decision based on what she sees, Emmett's already forgiven us, Jasper will do what ever Alice says and since when has Rosalie cared about anyone but herself? We'll get to stay here until it's time to move on._ I was trying to encourage him, to remind him that I was in this as much as he was.

"But who will side with us." Edward muttered.

_Carlisle, he'll side with us. He's always been there for me and he won't change that now, Esme . . . she won't be _against_ us, but she won't be with us. She'll try to keep us all here, together and she just wants to see you happy. I've told you about the others already, but I'm pretty sure Alice will be with us._

The bell rang and the three of us went to the Volvo. I stayed close to Edward to use his ability and for protection - the look on Jasper's face hurt me, the glare he gave us was painful to see. After Alice, I was his best friend. I tried to hide my emotions like always, but he could feel them still. I tried to focus on his thoughts, but it was hard with Rosalie screaming insults at Edward at the top of her mental lungs.

_Idiot! Lunatic! Moron! Jackass! Selfish, irresponsible fool!_

She hadn't forgiven me, but in her eyes I was still an enemy.

_She'll kill me if I go with you guys . . . sorry._ Emmett apologized.

I smiled weakly and nodded. "Come on Edward, let's go." I pushed him to the driver's side.

"You drive . . . I can't concentrate." He said, handing me the keys. I stared at him surprise for a moment, and then got into the car. It was just us two; everyone else was in Rosalie's M3.

I pulled out of the lot and waited until I got to the forest-surrounded highway to go drastically over the speed limit. We were quiet the entire ride, both of us occupied with our own thoughts. I wanted to beat Rosalie to our home, that way we could have a few moments to prepare Esme, but she was right behind me.

Both Edward and I were relieved to see Carlisle's Mercedes parked next to my Camero; that meant we could have some protection from the explosion that would inevitably happen. Rosalie pulled into the garage as Edward and I were getting out of the car.

We walked silently into the house and straight to the dining room, not that we used it for it's intended use . . . it was more of a conference room

Carlisle was at the head of the table with Esme beside him, holding hands. I went over to my spot on his other side. Edward sat beside me, Rosalie and Emmett sat at the far end while Jasper stood against the wall behind Rosalie. Alice walked in, her eyes looking far into the future and she sat next to Esme, resting her head in her hands. Jasper twitched as if to go sit beside her, but remained where he was.

Edward took a deep breath. "I'm sorry." He looked at Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper in turn. "I never meant to put any of you at risk. I take full responsibility for what happened."

"What do you mean 'full responsibility'; Ruth was part of this too!" Rosalie complained.

I looked her in the eye and spoke in a steady voice. "All I did was make sure Edward didn't harm anyone and I, unlike you, have a sense of moral and personally would've felt terrible if Bella Swan died and I did nothing to stop it from happening when I knew I could. A life is a life, no matter who it belongs to."

Carlisle nodded in approval. Rose turned to Edward. "Are you going to fix it?"

"Not in the way you mean. I'm willing to leave now, if it will help."

"No. No, Edward." Esme murmured.

He patted her hand. "It's just a few years."

"Edward, I'm not letting you leave, you can't!" I pleaded. "We need you here more than ever." _Not just us, Bella too! Please don't make the same mistake I did!_

"Ruth's right, we need to know what people are thinking. It would be the _opposite_ of help if you left." Emmett said seriously.

"Alice will catch anything major." Edward disagreed.

Carlisle shook his head. "I have to agree with them, the girl will be more likely to talk if it's just you gone. It's all or none of us."

"She won't say anything." Edward threw in hastily.

"He's right." I added. "Bella keeps to herself . . . she's more trustworthy than some, both vampire and human."

"You don't know her mind." Carlisle reminded.

"I know this much." Edward said. "Alice, back me up."

"I can't see what would happen if we just ignored this." She glanced at Rosalie and Jasper. Of course, their minds were too made up to _not_ ignore it.

Rosalie smacked her hand on the table. "We can't allow the human the chance to say anything! Carlisle, you _must_ see that. Even if we did disappear, it's not safe to leave stories. We live so differently from the rest of our kind - there's some that would love to point fingers, you know that! We've got to be more careful than anyone else!"

"Not that we haven't left rumors before." Edward pointed out.

"Perhaps, but not eyewitnesses and evidence!"

"Evidence." Edward scoffed.

Jasper nodded eyes hard. I hated to see him that way . . . it wasn't the Jasper I knew, but he had a hard life before he found Alice.

"Rose -" Carlisle warned.

"No, let me finish. She hit her head, right? So maybe it was more serious than it looked." She shrugged. "Every mortal goes to sleep with the risk of never waking up again. The others would expect us to clean up after ourselves."

"And we all want to fit in with _that_ crowd." I muttered.

She glared at me and continued. "Technically, that makes it Edward's job, but clearly this is beyond him. You know I'm capable of control, I would leave no evidence behind."

"I agree." Edward looked at me, surprised, a rare event. "Rosalie is obviously the best for the job, we all know how great of an assassin she is." I loaded my voice with sarcasm.

"Ruth, please." Carlisle looked at me, shocked. He knew Rose and I never got along well, but he had never seen me attack her so harshly.

"Sorry." I said as I looked back in at him into his eyes, I missed the bright blue they used to be. The apology was more for him than Rosalie, she deserved everything I said. I felt some of my old love coming back; it happened if I looked at him in a certain way, so I lowered my head and rested it in my arms to cover my eyes. I couldn't stand to have Jasper feel _that_ after everything that happened today.

He must've remembered too because I felt his gaze move quickly from me to Rosalie. "Rosalie, I looked the other way in Rochester because I felt you needed justice, those men wronged you terribly. Now, it's not the same situation, the Swan girl is innocent."

"It's not personal, Carlisle." She said through her teeth. "It's to protect us all."

He thought through his reply. "I know you mean well, but I'd rather like to think our family _deserves_ protecting. The occasional . . . accident or lapse of control is regrettable part of who we are." Leave it to Carlisle to include him and me in his plural, though we never had any difficulty before. "To murder a blameless child in cold blood, on the other hand, is entirely different. I agree with Edward and Ruth that she is no harm to us. If we make exceptions to protect ourselves, we risk losing something more important. We risk losing the essence of who we are."

I smiled, knowing Rose couldn't see. I lifted my head and sat back up right, the look on her face made me want to laugh; I loved when Rose didn't get her way if it meant I got mine.

"It's just being responsible." She defended.

"It's being callous." Carlisle seemed tired of explaining. "Every life is precious."

She scowled and Emmett out her arm around her. "It'll be fine, Rose."

"The question is, should we move?" Carlisle continued.

This time, it was my turn to protest. "No! Please, Carlisle, I'm happy here . . . we all are. Don't make us move! I feel human again and I've nearly forgotten how that feels and I have no desire to start in middle school all over again."

"The decision doesn't have to be made now." Carlisle replied calmly. In the pit of my empty stomach, I felt a butterfly that was the same way he used to . . . Edward and Jasper were staring at me. I cut my thoughts off immediately. How could I be so careless?

"Jasper." Edward said.

They looked at each other.

"She won't pay for my mistake. I won't allow that."

Jasper stared at him with cold eyes. I still couldn't bear to see him like that. "She benefits from it? She should've died today; I would only set that right."

"I won't allow it." Edward said slowly.

"I won't let Alice live in danger. You may have been in my head, but you haven't lived through what I have.

"Jazz." Alice broke in.

"Don't go telling me you can protect yourself . . ."

"I wasn't. I was going to ask you for a favor. I know you love me. Thanks. But I'd rather appreciate it if you didn't kill Bella. Firstly, Edward's serious and I would rather you didn't fight. Secondly, she's my friend . . . well; at least she's going to be and Ruth's too."

We all stared at her. I grabbed Edward's hand to see what she was. Clear and plain, there we were with Bella in the middle, arms around each other's shoulders. I was surprised a bit, but I had seen this coming before, even without Alice's help.

"But . . . Alice . . ." Jasper sputtered.

"I'm going to love her someday, Jazz. I'll be very put out if you don't let her be."

"Me too." I said. "Please, I'm sorry. I know it's what you think are right, but best friends don't let best friends kill people." I grinned, hoping for one in return. He smiled slightly, that was enough for me.

The future shifted with Jasper's intentions fading.

"Ah, there, I can see now. Bella's not going to tell anyone. Nothing to worry about." Alice said her name as if they had been friends for a long time.

"What does this . . ."Edward choked out.

"I told you change was coming." She scolded. "I don't know Edward." She began to concentrate on Jasper; Alice was trying to block us - mostly Edward - from what she saw."

"What are you hiding?" Edward said. "Is it about the girl? Is it about Bella?"

At that, her concentration broke and we saw what was to come.

"NO!" Edward and I said simultaneously. He stood up, breaking our contact.

"Edward!" Carlisle said, standing up as well, placing a hand on Edward's shoulder.

"It's solidifying." Alice whispered. "There's only two ways."

"Which one?" I muttered.

"The second." It wasn't bad to me, but Edward being his protecting self, thought it was the end of the world.

"Edward, it's better than the other, for you and her. I told you before, you can't leave her."

"Will someone fill us on the mystery?" Emmett said loudly.

"I have to leave." Edward said.

"We've been through that already, you can't. It's the best way to make sure she doesn't talk. Besides, how would we know if she _was_ talking?" Emmett said, as loudly as before.

"I don't see you going anywhere. Think about it, think about leaving." Alice said, sure of herself.

His face showed pain.

I smiled triumphantly. _I knew it! Edward, you can't leave. It was the same for me. Please don't._

"I don't hear that." Edward said to Alice.

Silence, then. "Why are you doing this to me?"

More silence, then the thing I had been waiting for. "Love her _too_?"

_Told you so! Remember; don't make the same mistake I did._

"No, I won't let that happen. I'll leave."

"Oh, come ON! Emmett bellowed."

"Pay attention." Rosalie hissed. "Alice sees him falling for a human! Classically Edward." She laughed cruelly.

I gripped the edge of the table as tightly as I could. _It's only Rose. It's only Rose. It's only Rose. It's only Rose. It's only Rose. It's only Rose. It's only Rose._

Emmett, finally realizing what was going on, began to laugh too. "What? Is that what's been going on? Tough break Edward!"

I kept my chant going on in my head. My grip on the table was so tight, I felt splinters coming off.

"Could you stop that?" Edward muttered to me.

"Sorry." I said, my teeth clenched.

"_Fall_ for a human?" Esme asked stunned. "For the girl he saved today? Fall in _love_ with her?"

"What do you see, Alice, exactly." Jasper said.

"There are only two options, either Edward kills her - which would really irritate me - or she'll become on of us someday."

We were all silent, even me. My thoughts too clouded to be anything coherent to Edward.

"This . . . complicates things." Carlisle said after a long moment.

"I'll say." Emmett said the laughter still in his voice.

I couldn't take it anymore. It didn't apply to me, but the fact that they thought human and vampire could never be together . . . how little they knew!

"Don't _say_ that!" I said in a low voice. "Don't! You have _no_ idea what you're talking about!"

"Why should you care?" Rosalie scathed.

"Because . . ." I looked at Edward, Alice and Jasper for reassurance. They all nodded quickly. "Because I loved a human too, alright! There, I said it. Make fun of me all you want, but it doesn't matter anymore, he's long since been dead."

My death grip on the table loosened as the truth came out. One secret of two revealed and only time could tell if the other would be told. I stood. "I have to go. Sorry Carlisle, for betraying your trust."

"Ru, wait!" Esme said.

I ran as fast as I could to a small clearing in the forest I had gone to before so I could be alone.

I spread out my arms and lifted my face to the sky letting the rain fall on me, soaking my clothes. My hair was all frizzy and went into tight ringlets from the damp and wet.

I sat down with my arms curled around my legs, sobbing dryly. Why me? I hated myself for lying to Esme, but especially Carlisle.

I heard his approach before I saw him.

"That was about the boy from Delaware? Matthew Carmichael, right? The others explained rather well for you." Carlisle asked, sitting beside me. For some reason, his old British accent was strong.

I smiled. "I was afraid to tell you . . . I didn't know what you would've thought, but now I do."

He put his arm around me. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Why did you tell your sister and brothers? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I needed another story to hide what I really feel all the time."

We sat silently for a little while.

"Why don't you tell them?" He asked.

I shrugged. "They can't handle it yet. I'm not ready."

"You know now Esme is more determined to help you find love more than before, right?"

I laughed. "Oh, Ez always has her priorities straight, doesn't she?"

"Let's go back, she's worried about you."

"But…I…fine."

We got up and ran through the rain back to the place we called home.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Hey people of fanfiction! I know another quick update. I'm not sure if it will become a habit or not, (I know you hope so..) but we're already almost half-done Chapter 6! **

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****Chapter 5  
**Edward had returned to some what normal, but he was doing everything properly. He seemed way too controlled, even for his usual controlled personality.

_Nothing yet?_ I asked at lunch break.

We had been monitoring everyone's thoughts all day for any unusual stories about us that were remotely close to what we really were.

He shook his head slightly.

The bell went and we walked to our classes. I was too focused on hearing Edward to pay any attention to my chemistry class.

"Hello, Edward." I heard Bella say. She sounded so cheerful, what _was_ that girl thinking?

"I don't know." He muttered too fast for her to hear then said hello.

A month passed with virtually the same repetitious schedule that I hated. I despised repeating everything over and over again, that's why moving somewhere new was always something I both loved and hated.

Edward stayed in his controlled state and finally, I got so tired of this that I could barely stand to be around him anymore. I began talking more and more to Esme, Alice, Jasper and Emmett, who had apologized and I'd forgiven him. I talked to Carlisle a lot more now too.

The entire situation with Bella was confusing to me - I was remembering more and more things that I wanted to keep secret, but it was hard with Edward peering into my head. She seemed to trigger more and more memories every time I saw her in school. She was unlocking me, making me more open. Bella wasn't only a good thing for Edward; she was a good thing for me too. Sort of. I still don't really want to tell everyone my story.

"Ruth, why aren't you talking to me?" Edward asked me one night. Everyone else was somewhere in the house.

"You got too annoying to be around." I replied, not looking up from my book.

"How so?"

"You're too controlled, you can't change this future. I promise, you're strong enough not to kill her, I'll make sure of that."

"What happened to you after you ran away?"

I stiffened. This wasn't a question I thought he'd ask. "I went back, remember in Maryland? It was the late 30's after you returned."

Silence fell over us.

"Show me." He said. It wasn't a question, it was a demand.

I closed my book and sighed. "Fine." Bella was changing me and we didn't even know each other yet.

I shut my eyes and tried to bring up one of my more sad memories.

_I folded the letter and put it in an envelope. On the outside I wrote, _Matthew Carmichael_. _  
_He had to still be alive; it was only 20 years ago since we lived in Little Heaven. I was certain he had never gone to war . . . he was too caring to kill. I put the envelope into my pocket and went downstairs to go out._  
_  
"Where are you going?" Carlisle asked._I stopped. "Do you want to know what was in the letter?"

"Hunting, far away, though. Animal supply is short around here."

He looked at me suspiciously but nodded.

"See you later." I opened the door and ran straight into the forest. I didn't stop until I got all the way to Little Heaven, Delaware.

It wasn't sunny enough for me to have to stay in the shadows, but people living here still may remember the mysterious disappearance of Carlisle and Ruth Cullen. I stuck close to the tree line, happy his house was along the forest . . . if he still lived there.

I found it eventually and even though he was older, I recognized him. He was in the back yard facing the forest with a woman and two children who looked about 6 and 12. The older was a girl with curly golden brown hair, sort of like mine. The other was a boy and a spitting image of his father. I leaned against a tree out of their sight and watched them laugh and play for a while, and then my opportunity came.

Matthew and his wife went inside the house after instructing their children to stay in the yard. I walked slowly out of the trees when I knew they weren't looking and walked over to the children.

"Hello." I said tentatively. "Do you live here?"

They looked at me and nodded.

"Daddy says we're not allowed to talk to strangers." The girl said.

I smiled. "He's right, but I'm no stranger. I used to know you're father."

"What's your name?" The boy asked.

I decided not to lie. "Ruth Cullen, what are your names?"

"I'm John Carmichael!" The boy answered.

The girl frowned for a moment, and then said, "I'm Ruth Carmichael."

My face flew into a surprised expression, then I smiled, wishing I could cry.

"Very lovely names for both of you. Can you do something for me? I was wondering if you could give this letter to your father. It's private, so no opening it!"

John nodded excitedly and I gave him the letter. "I'll go get him!"

"I think it's better if he doesn't see me. It's been great meeting you."

"Will we see you again?" Ruth asked.

I shook my head. "No, it's better if you don't. Good bye."

I walked back towards the trees and hid quickly behind one.

"Daddy, a girl gave me this to give to you! She was really pretty!" John said excitedly when his father came back out.

"Really? What was her name?" His voice was still as beautiful, even now.

"Ruth Cullen, she said."

"What did she look like?"

This time, Ruth answered. "She had long, curly brown hair, like mine. Oh, and bright golden brown eyes. She looked about 16."

Matthew gasped. "Where did she come from?"

"The trees."

I couldn't resist not looking at him anymore. I stepped out from behind the tree I was hiding behind to see him scanning the trees. He saw me.

"Ruth? RUTH?" He ran towards where I was standing with the strangest expression on his face. It was somehow ecstatic, hurt and afraid all at once. I waved sadly at him and managed to tear myself away from the scene. I ran away deep into the trees. I kept running and running. It was well into the night when I got back to Maryland.

I stayed in the forest. I found a herd of deer and singled out one. I chased it down before jumping on it. I sunk my teeth into its neck, drinking the blood. It tasted terrible, but it was better than killing someone. I took out my frustration on another one. I returned around midnight.

The house was empty. I went up to my room and pulled out the copy of the letter I had given to Matthew.

I read it to myself.

"Yes."

"Then here you are." I pulled out a fragile, yellowing paper from the front of my book and held it out to him.

"You have it?!"

"Did you think I'd get rid of it?" I rolled my eyes. "Just be careful, it's the original paper. I never copied it down anywhere else . . . I think I'll do that sometime."

He sat beside me on the couch, took the paper and carefully opened it. I muttered the words as he read them silently.

_"Dear Matthew,_  
Edward stared at me for a few moments. "How couldn't I have known?"

"I'm terribly sorry for leaving so suddenly. Like I said, it's more complicated than you could imagine. Then, I didn't think you could take it, and now, twenty years later, I still think you can't.

"Sometimes it's hard for me to understand as well, but I can now accept what has happened. It's part of the life I must live, leaving and never coming back. There is one thing I have to tell you that I couldn't dare to say before.

"I love you, more than you could ever know. We were meant to be. Like Romeo and Juliet, one cannot go on without the other. I never forgot you and I hope you haven't forgotten me. It tore me apart to leave, but it had to be done.

"I hope you are happy and have a wonderful, long life and die a happy man with children and grandchildren to love you even when you are gone. I promise, I will love you for all eternity.

"Yours forever,

Ruth Cullen"

I smiled slightly. "I've always been good at hiding my thoughts and emotions, even before we found out you were a mind reader."

"That's so beautiful!" Alice said, suddenly coming into the room with Jasper behind her.

Jasper added. "I never thought you to be romantic, Ruth."

Esme and Carlisle must have heard us talking and came down to see what we were doing.

"I have my moments. I've changed so much over the years. When I was human, I was married, you know." Oh, damn it! At least I didn't say or think to whom.

"Really? He must have been a very lucky man." Esme said.

I smiled widely, trying to not look at Carlisle, who knew _exactly_ who I had been married to. "I guess he was. After I was changed, he married someone else and he was very happy then, too."

"You must've been hurt to see that." Esme frowned.

I laughed. "Not really, I knew he was happy, so that made me happy as well." I may have imagined it, but I think Carlisle suddenly looked happier.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

On one Tuesday in March, Edward looked as if he was going to kill someone and I knew who that person was.

"It's Mike Newton, Edward, get over it!" I whispered quickly as we passed him to go to our table.

"But he doesn't deserve Bella. She's too good for him." I think he was actually whining.

I stared at him as we sat down. "Seriously, I bet you anything she'll say no."

"What are we betting on?" Emmett asked excitedly.

"Nothing, it's a figure of speech." Edward said, close to rude.

"Bella's going to stare at Edward in a minute. Look normal." Alice interrupted.

I began to play with my hair, twirling it around and around my finger. We were all fidgeting - stillness was a trademark of our kind.

"Stay out of it Alice," I heard Edward mutter. "It's not going to happen."

_So is!_ I thought.

He glared at me, then replied to Alice. "It makes plenty of sense to me."

_Stop being so stubborn!_"It's not being stubborn, it's being rational."

Edward was tightly wound today and the only ones who could tell were Jasper and I, but Edward had been feeling like this for so long now that whenever I used Jasper's powers, I ignored it and Jasper did too.

It was no secret Mike was hoping Bella would ask him to the girls' choice dance coming up, so when Jessica Stanley asked him, he didn't say yes or no, making her very mad at Bella who was the cause for all this.

Edward was getting more and more angry.

"It's like one of those ridiculous soap operas!" I muttered to Alice.

We laughed as Edward glared.

When school ended, Edward told the others to go with Rosalie and for me to come with him. With both Eric and Mike's unsuccessful attempt to ask Bella to go to the dance, Tyler was going to take a chance.

"Edward, don't do that to the poor girl - she's been through enough." I sympathized for my future friend as I saw his plans in his thoughts.

"I just want to give him a fair chance." He replied as he pulled out, blocking Bella's truck from moving anywhere.

I looked into the mirror and saw Bella glaring at Edward and I lapsed into giggles. Her face was pricelessly funny.

"I'm sorry, Tyler." Bella said. "I'm stuck behind Cullen." The last name came out in anger.

"Oh, I know. I was just wondering if you were going to ask me to the dance."

Edward was grinning ear to ear, laughing with me.

"I'm not going to be in town." she said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, that's what Mike said."

"Then why - ?"

"I was hoping you were just letting him down easy." Tyler said innocently.

"I'm sorry, but I really am going to be out of town. I'm going to Seattle."

He shrugged. "That's cool, we still got prom." And Tyler walked back to his car.

I managed to control my laughter as Bella looked at us in our car. I couldn't say the same for Edward. He was too pleased with himself.

"Get over it so we can go home." I mumbled.

He managed to stop laughing long enough for me to keep a hold on his arm long enough to hear anything interesting in his thoughts.

He took the final hairpin turn at 90 miles an hour and stopped an inch from the garage door.

"You're going to stalk her?!" I exclaimed after I saw what he planned to do tonight.

"It's not stalking . . ." He said as we got out of the car.

"Oh, right. It's breaking and entering."

He glared at me. Alice came over to us.

"So does that mean Ruth and I can talk to her?" She asked.

Edward frowned. "No."

"Not fair! What are we waiting for?" I asked.

"I haven't decided anything yet."

"Whatever." Alice and I said at the same time. I had been keeping in touch with the future more and more, trying to see past all the fuzziness to find out what would happen.

"I'll come with you, Edward." I said. "I'm beyond thirsty anyway."

He nodded and we ran off into the forest. We drank as much as we could and Edward, even more than was necessary.

"Have fun." I said as I ran towards the direction of our home and Edward to the town. I waited until he was far away before following him. I promised him I wouldn't let him kill her.

The darkness surrounded me as I walked quietly to Bella's house. There was a tree right outside her window.

_Convenient._ I thought. I climbed up and looked into the window.

"What are you doing here?" Edward whispered.

_I promised I would make sure you wouldn't kill her._ I grinned.

He rolled his eyes. "Are you going to stay?"

_I don't know. Probably not for long._I sat in the tree for a few hours. Bella wasn't a peaceful sleeper, or at least she wasn't tonight.

"Edward." She said suddenly.

I thought she had woken up, but she just turned over. She sleep talked and she was dreaming of Edward.

_I'll just . . . go._I dropped down and ran back to my house. I hate feeling like a third wheel. That happens a lot in a family with three couples though, so I know when I'm not wanted,

"Where were you?" Esme asked.

"Oh, I've been around." I said as I went upstairs to my room. There was still 4 hours until we had to leave for school.

I changed into fresh clothes and grabbed my iPod. I had somehow managed to take the iPod apart so I could rewire it - stupid heat-sensitive electronics. I spent hours trying to get it to work. Edward, Carlisle and I had rewired a touch screen computer for Alice so she could use it to design clothes with.

I put the ear-buds in and listened to barely half the songs I had on it before it was time to go.

Edward returned just after everyone but I had left. Esme gave him a questioning look, but thought no more of it.

"Let's run." He said.

"Excellent."

We ran to the school and none of our family looked at us, even though they knew we were in the forest behind them.

"I'm going to go talk to Bella." Edward muttered.

"Sure. I'll meet up with the others."

I walked over to them and none questioned me.

_Take it slow, Edward. You know she won't say no._ I thought as he asked Bella if she wanted him to drive her to Seattle.

I desperately wanted it to work out for them. And against what Edward wished, I wanted Bella to be one of us. Hopefully, someday, she would be.

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	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! Again! I know - another quick update. We'll see how we do for chapter 7!**

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**Chapter 6**

At lunch, none of us were surprised to see Edward sitting alone at another table.

I was the first to walk past him. _Don't fret over it. Everything will be fine._

"I know, I know." He muttered to me.

The others, no doubt, had thought things to him as well.

"I don't think this will work the way he plans." Jasper said.

"It will." Alice chirped.

I paid attention to what Jessica was saying. "Edward Cullen's staring at you again. I wonder why he's sitting alone."

Sure enough, Bella looked to where we were sitting. I caught her eye and smiled. She looked shyly away and found where Edward was sitting. I motioned with his finger for her to sit with him. He winked at her and I heard Bella's heart race.

_Don't give her a heart attack._ I thought, laughing.

"Ummm, maybe he needs help with the Biology homework. I'll go see what it is." Bella muttered as she got up to sit with my brother.

I tried to listen to what they were saying, but the chatter of the cafeteria was loud for my over-sensitive ears to hear across the room.

The lunch hour went by fast. Both Edward and I were skipping our science classes. In Biology, they were blood-typing and in Chemistry, we were experimenting with blood for some odd reason that was beyond me.

I met up with Edward and we went and sat in the Volvo.

"It seemed to go well." I said. "Don't make me listen to Debussy again."

"It went well, yes." He replied as he put in the CD anyway.

"Does it feel good? To know you're doing something, even though you seem to regret it."

"I don't regret it."

I rolled my eyes. I looked out the window and frowned. "Is Mike carrying Bella?" I wondered aloud.

"Stay here." Edward mumbled as he got out.

I disobeyed and followed after him anyway.

"Bella?" Edward shouted as he sped over to where she was lying on the sidewalk with Mike looking rather unsure of what to do.

I went faster too, trying to look as human as possible._She's not dead, you know. No need to get all upset._

"Is she hurt? What happened?" Edward asked Mike.

"I think she's fainted." Mike replied. He looked at me for a second, then turned away, slightly red in the face. Before Bella came, I was the girl most of the boys were after. Apparently, he still thought that.

"Bella, can you hear me?" Edward asked.

"No, go away." She moaned.

Edward and I laughed a little.

"I was taking her to the nurse, but she wouldn't go any farther."

"I'll take her. You can go back to class." Edward continued, dismissively.

"No, I'm supposed to do it."

Edward ignored him and helped her up anyway, holding her as far from him as possible.

_Don't drop her._ I thought, rolling my eyes and helping her up without any trouble with being so close to her; she did smell good, but centuries of resisting was a lot of help.

"Put me down." She mumbled weakly.

He grinned and continued to carry her towards the office building. I made sure he had a hold on her before I let go and suddenly, I had a great idea.  
_  
__You're going to love this Edward. I'm a genius._ I thought.

"I'll walk you to your class, Mike, if that's OK with you?" I said, suggestively.

"Uhhhhhh, sure. Why?" I still had that effect on guys. This would be fun.

We turned and walked towards the science building.

"I hate feeling like a third wheel, you know? Living with so many couples, I know the feeling well."

"Oh."

"So you're going to the dance with Jessica?" I asked, trying to get in another hint.

"Yeah, but I'd rather go with Bella."

I raised my eyebrows in false surprise. "Really? Edward asked her if she was going, but she said she was out of town then he asked if she wanted a ride to Seattle with him because he's going that weekend too and she said yes. I guess she isn't one for dancing."

He looked angry. "Yeah, I guess so."

We reached the Biology room. "Well, bye then." I said cheerfully and walked away.

_Hope you're happy._

I was about halfway to the office building when Mike came out again, this time supporting Lee Stevens. I glanced over my shoulder, smelled the blood and I continued walking quickly to the building. I may have restraint, but it was nothing compared to actually seeing the blood.  
_  
__Edward, Mike's bringing a boy, and he's bleeding. Get out of there; now!_ I thought quickly.

I walked inside the building, waiting for Edward to get himself out of there. When the boys passed, my hands clenched into fists as I held my breath.

Edward and Bella came out.

"You actually listened to me." Edward said bewildered standing next to me.

Bella's nose wrinkled. "I smelled the blood."

My eyebrows rose slightly and looked at Edward. _She means it; her tone is clear. Not like us, just the human way._

"What." She demanded, looking between us.

"It's nothing." I answered automatically. Those were the first words I'd ever said to Bella. I smiled slightly. _Alice will be jealous.__  
_  
"You look better." Mike interrupted.

Edward tensed. _Relax, will you?_

"Just keep your hand in your pocket." She said.

"It's not bleeding anymore." He said, put off. "Are you going back to class?"

"Are you kidding? I'd just have to come straight back."

"Yeah, I guess so . . ." Mike trailed off. "Are you going this weekend?"

He looked at Edward and me warily

"Sure, I said I was in."

"We're meeting at my dad's store at ten." _And Cullen's NOT invited._ I rested my arm inconspicuously against Edward's, then after a stern look, moved away.

_Stupid jerk, she can't get any ideas . . . we're supposed to be brother and sister after all!__  
_  
"I'll be there."

"See you in Gym, then." Mike said as he walked out of the room.

"Gym." Bella groaned.

"I'm guessing you don't enjoy it?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"Neither do I."

"I can take care of that, go sit down and look pale." Edward muttered to her.

I sat down beside her, my hand resting on her back consolingly.

"It looks more convincing." I mumbled when she gave me a questioning look. Edward glanced at us; he looked jealous of me being able to be so close to her and I could continue to be as long the blood stayed in her. Maybe if it wasn't, could I still be near her? I hoped so.

"Ms. Cope?" Edward asked in the voice he used around humans to get what he wanted. It didn't even sound like the real Edward; just a fake one.

Her heart sped up a bit and I tried not to laugh.

"Yes?"

"Bella has Gym next hour and I don't think she feels well enough to go. Actually, I was considering taking her home. Do you think you could excuse her from class?"  
_  
__Edward, what are you planning?_ I thought.

He didn't acknowledge that I even said anything to him. Why couldn't that be?  
_  
__Edward, hello? Can you hear me?_ Still no response.

"Do you and your sister need to be excused too?"

"No, we have Ms. Goff, she won't mind."

_Edward Cullen! Why are you ignoring me?!_ Nothing, still.

"OK, it's all taken care of. You feel better Bella."

She nodded weakly.

"Can you walk?" I asked.

She nodded again and the three of us left the building.

_Edward, why did you ignore me?_I thought, walking close so I could hear his response.

_I wasn't ignoring you, your thoughts . . . disappeared; just like Bella's._

_Tell me you're not lying._

_I'm not._

"Thanks." Bella said. "It's nice getting sick to miss Gym."

"Anytime." He answered.

"So, are you two going Saturday, then?" I liked how she included me. Alice would be so jealous.

"Where are you going exactly?" I asked.

"Down to La Push, to first Beach."

_Damn it! I was hoping to talk more to her._

He looked at me, then replied. "I don't think we were invited."

"I just invited you."

"Let's not push Mike any further this week. We don't want him to snap."

Bella rolled her eyes; exactly how I responded to Edward when he was trying too hard. "Mike-shmike."

We reached the parking lot and Bella was walking to her truck.

"Where are you going?" Edward asked.

"I'm going home." She answered, puzzled.

"I promised I would take you. You can't drive in your condition."

She looked at him, bewildered. "My condition? "And what about my truck."

"I'll drive it behind you." I said quickly.

Bella hesitated for a moment before tossing me her keys. "Double pump the clutch." She said.

I nodded and got into her truck and started it up. _Not over the speed limit in this thing._

"You're so pushy!" I heard Bella say to Edward and I laughed. She described Edward perfectly.

I pulled out behind and followed them to where Bella lived, not that I needed to follow. When we got there, Edward let me pull into the driveway and then he parked behind the truck.

I hopped out and got into the backseat of the Volvo.

_Can't be without a chaperone, you old-fashioned man! I thought wryly, smirking._

"How old are you Bella?" I asked.

"Seventeen."

"You don't seem to be." Edward frowned and Bella began to laugh.

"My mom says I was born 35 and keep getting middle-aged every year. Well, someone had to be the adult." She sighed.

I assumed she had to grow up fast, to be the caretaker. Sort of like myself, I had to grow up much faster than I wanted to when I was human.

"You two don't seem like juniors in high school either."

I smiled sadly. "We've both had to grow up faster than we wished."

"So, why did your mother marry Phil?" Edward asked, changing the subject.

"My mother . . . is very young for her age and I think Phil makes her feel even younger."

"Do you approve?" Edward pried.

"Does it matter? As long as she's happy, I am."

_She's so sweet. I can't believe you tried to run away from her._

"Would she apply the same courtesy to you?" Edward asked.

"I - I think so. But she's the parent after all, it's a bit different."

Edward glared at me in the mirror and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"No one to scary, then." I said.

"What do you mean by scary? No tattoos or facial piercings?"

"That's one definition I suppose."

"Do you think I could be scary?" Edward asked quickly.

She thought for a moment. "Hmmmmm, I think you could if you wanted to be."

We fell into silence for a little bit.

"So, are you going to tell me about your family? It must be more interesting than mine." Bella said.

"What do you want to know?" Edward asked.

"The Cullen's adopted you?"

"Yes, when we were very young." I said.

"What happened to your parents?" She asked in a small voice.

"They died a long time ago." Edward answered.

"Oh. I'm sorry." She seemed worried that she hurt us.

"Don't feel bad, I don't really remember them anyway."

"I do, which is a bit silly because I'm younger, you'd think I'd be the one forgetting." I still remembered my parents and I wasn't about to let Edward answer for me. "But Carlisle and Esme have been our parents for so long now, I love them just as much as our real ones."

"They must be nice."

"Oh, you'd like them and I think they'd like you, too." I said, cheerfully.

I glanced at the clock. Time was up.

"Edward, we got to go." I said.

"Right, see you on Monday, Bella."

"You won't be at school tomorrow?" She asked, concerned.

Edward shook his head. "Emmett and I are starting the week-end early."

"But I'll be there. I'll see you tomorrow, Bella. It's been great meeting you. Maybe we could talk at school sometime."

Bella smiled. "Yeah, that would be great. Bye!"

She got out into the rain and went inside the house. Edward was glaring at me; what else was new?

"Don't be jealous I can be near her and you freak out every time you are." I said, climbing into the front seat.

"I'm not jealous, but I don't think it a good idea to be around her too much. Just don't lie to her."

"I'll do my best." I said seriously.

Did he believe I could lie to the girl he loved? Because there was no way.

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	7. Chapter 7

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**Chapter 7**

I let Edward have his time to think about Bella and everything else that was going on in his head as we drove home. Her scent lingered in the car; smelling as sweet as ever.

We got home and went inside to meet a very angry Alice.

"Not fair, Edward! Why does Ruth get to talk to her?"

"Because I'm special!" I said playfully.

She opened her mouth, but paused. "I smell her off of you two."

Right, I had touched her and Edward had, well, been close to her so her scent would still be on us . . . and I had been sitting in the same place Bella had been.

"Where were you?" Emmett boomed.

"Out doing good deeds." Edward replied, smiling.

"We drove Bella home. Well, Edward was with Bella and I drove her truck."

"Yeah, I realize that, you reek of her. But, man, she smells good."

Edward and I simultaneously glared at him. Emmett just shrugged it off and we went to our favorite pass times.

Emmett and Jasper were playing a game of chess that involved 8 chessboards lined up on the floor and their own set of rules.

Alice went to her computer and was designing new outfits for Rosalie who was sprawled out on the couch instead of standing over Alice's shoulder, telling her what colors and styles to use.

I heard Esme humming upstairs, no doubt looking at new blueprints.

_Want to play Esme's song with me?_ I thought to him. He hadn't played the piano in such a long time and I wanted him to play Esme's song with me.

He nodded and came and sat beside me on the bench.

_Thanks Edward, you know she loves it when we play her song._

He smiled. We began to play the song and I heard Esme stop humming and listen to us play. When we finished, I began playing random notes here and there, but it sounded really good. I was thinking about Bella and what good she'd done to Edward without realizing it.

"Which notes were those?" Edward asked.

I played them again in the same order and he smiled. "I think you just helped me begin a new song."

I smiled back and stood up. "No problem. You can finish it as long as I get some credit."

He began to play those notes and add in more and more until it became a song. It was so long since he composed anything new.

I went and stood beside Alice, who was mouthing Emmett's next moves to Jasper from behind him. Suddenly, Edward stopped playing and started laughing at Rosalie. She walked straight to the garage.

"What's wrong, babe?" Emmett called. "What's that all about, Eddi e?"

"I haven't a clue." Edward lied. He was the only one who would know exactly what was wrong.

"Keep playing." Esme said from the bottom of the stairs.

He placed his hands on the keys, hesitated, then began to play again. Esme stood behind him and put her hands on his shoulders.

"It's charming. Does it have a name?" She asked.

"Not yet." Edward said.

_I just named it. It's called Bella's Lullaby. I was thinking of what she has done for you when I was playing those notes and it sounds very much like a lullaby._ I looked at him and I saw him smile.

"Actually, Ruth's just named it Bella's Lullaby. She says it's because of what Bella has done for me and it sounds like a lullaby." Edward said.

"Perfect name, Ruth." Esme said, looking over her shoulder at me and I nodded.

Edward began to play again, taking the notes I played and making it more complicated and beautiful.

"Perfect." He said. "Thanks."

Esme was talking to Edward in the form of thoughts.

"Stop it, Mom, you're making me blush." He joked.

"Now all we have to do is find Ruth someone."

I walked over to her and hugged her. "You know I'm fine on my own, Mom. I've managed to live with all of you for like, a century now. I think I can last a few more." I loved referring to Carlisle and Esme as Dad and Mom since my real ones weren't the best parents.

"That doesn't mean you should be alone forever, though. I can't help but feel I'm somewhat responsible for you not having someone." Esme frowned, holding me at arms length.

I began to think one of my favourite songs and replied. "What would give you that idea?"

"I'm not sure, it seems that way."

Edward frowned at me for keeping my thoughts secret.

_I can't let you know, not yet._ I thought.

"Well, it's not your fault, only mine. OK? Don't go feeling all guilty on me Ez." I scolded.

She laughed, pulled me protectively close to her and ran her fingers in my hair. "Alright."

She was more of a mother than ever to me and Carlisle was like a father, putting our human lives in the past.

Alice bounced over and Edward played her favorite song which was 'Chopsticks'.

"I wish I knew what you were laughing at Rosalie for, but I can see you won't tell me." Alice sighed.

"Nope."

She flicked his ear.

"Be nice to your brother." Esme said, arms still over my shoulders. "He's just being a gentleman."

"But I want to know." Alice complained.

Edward played my favorite song, 'The River Flows in You' by Yiruma.

"Thanks." I said.

When the song ended, Alice suddenly said. "Oh, guess what Jasper? Peter and Charlotte are coming to visit next week! Isn't that great?"

"They're coming to Forks?" Edward tensed.

I rolled my eyes. "It's not like they haven't before and you know they don't hunt around here. They're trustworthy."

He ignored me completely and turned to Emmett. "Get ready, we're leaving tonight and we'll be back by midnight on Sunday."

"Let me at least say good-bye to Rose."

With Rosalie's temper, the good-bye would be short.

"Play Bella's Lullaby for me before you go." Esme said.

Edward did and I couldn't help but be happy he was finally. When he ended, he got up to leave.

"I'll look after her, promise." I said.

He nodded and ran into the night with Emmett behind him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Hey, Bella. Do you want to sit with me for a bit?" I asked as she passed the table I was sitting at alone.

"Sure. Why?" She sat down across from me.

"You probably have a lot of questions that Edward won't answer about us and some of them even I can't tell you. I was going to try to answer some."

"You're all adopted?"

I nodded. "Every one of us."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen, I skipped up a grade." I added, noting her look.

"Where did you live before here?"

"Well, everyone else was in Alaska, but I was at a boarding school in England. I hated the cold." That wasn't a lie, I did hate the cold weather, even though it didn't affect me and I _did_ live in England at that time.

"That's why you have a bit of an accent, then."

I nodded. "I was there for 2 years."

"I hate the cold too." She shivered and I smiled a bit.

Just then, Angela and Jessica came over. "Hey, Bella, wanna come sit with us?"

She looked at me and I nodded. "Go ahead. I hope some of your questions have been answered."

We both got up and walked to our usual tables.

"Edward's going to be real mad when he finds out." Alice warned.

"That's why he won't. Got it?" I looked at Rosalie and Jasper.

They nodded.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Don't be such a stalker, Edward." I said when he came home Monday morning after another night watching Bella sleep.

"I'm not a stalker!"

"So watching her sleep is called . . ." I trailed off purposely.

He scowled. He couldn't see her for 2 days because it was going to be sunny and we couldn't go into the sunlight.

"I can't stay around you anymore! I'm going out."

"Where?"

"Where there is no people and lots of sun!" I stormed out of the house. I hated being cooped up inside.

I ran between the trees and got to a clearing where the sun shone down. I stood directly in the middle and looked down at my sparkling skin. It never ceased to amaze me at how much light reflected off of us. I felt some of the warm rays penetrate the coldness of my skin. I loved the warmth.

"Ruth?" I spun around.

"Oh, hey Charlotte, Peter. It's been a while since we've seen each other. Jasper can't wait to see you again."

"What are you doing out here?" Charlotte asked, her crimson eyes looked even redder in the sun.

"Can't go to school because of the sun, obviously."

"So Jasper's at your place?" Peter said.

I nodded. "Follow my scent through the trees over there. Tell them I'll be home soon."

"Sure thing." Charlotte replied and they ran off the same way I had come here.

I sighed. I always was lying when I said I liked to be alone, but how could I tell anyone that?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So, moved to watching her in the daylight?" I asked Edward.

He shrugged.

"It's not healthy to be obsessed, you know."

"I'm not obsessed!"

"You so are!"

Emmett came into the room, throwing a football at my head. I caught it easily.

"Football at the Rainier field?" He asked us.

I grinned. "Sure thing."

"No, sorry. I've got things to do."

"Like stalking Bella."

He glared.

"Let's go, Em. Who else is playing?" I asked.

"Esme's referee, so now the teams are even. Peter and Charlotte are playing too." He said as we headed to the field.

_You suck, you know that?_ I thought angrily at Edward.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"I can't believe you missed a game to go watch someone sleep!" Emmett exclaimed the next day; the day Peter and Charlotte were leaving.

True enough, the game was great. I tackled Emmett down 4 times and I was extremely proud of that.

"Peter, Charlotte, it's been great seeing you again." Carlisle said.

"Yeah. If you see Maria, tell her I said hello." Jasper said, shaking Peter's hand.

We tried to keep our distance from Jasper's creator after she visited us unexpectedly when we were in Calgary; it ended with us moving to Winnipeg immediately.

"Bye, hope to see you soon." I said. I liked them very much, even though they were different than us.

"Yeah, bye everyone." They said, leaving the house.

We were silent for a little while.

"Time for Edward to go stalk some more." I said.

"Ruth, don't be like that." Esme said disapprovingly.

"Well, it's true!"

"Don't tell me you couldn't stand to be away from him. Don't tell me you didn't watch his every move!" Edward said.

I stared at him, shocked that he would bring up such a sensitive topic. "Just go."

"Fine." Edward walked out of the house and left for Port Angeles.

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	8. Chapter 8

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**Chapter 8**

I was alone again. Everyone was off doing something and yet here I was, lying across the couch, watching a movie on TV because I had nothing better to do by myself.

Edward was still in Port Angeles after a few hours. What the hell was taking him so long? I was still mad at him. I didn't want to know what brought him to say those words to me.

I gave up trying to watch the movie, so I closed my eyes and hoped that I could fall asleep; that the past few centuries had just been a terrible nightmare and I would wake up in the mid 1600's next to my husband.

I heard someone walk down the stairs; it was Alice and I could only tell by her scent.

"Ruth, get up." She said.

"Go away. I'm trying to think this is all a dream."

"Well, sorry, it's not. Edward's coming; he nearly killed some guy today. He wants Carlisle to go with him to get this guy arrested."

I sat up and opened my eyes. "Do I really want to know?"

"That man was going to attack Bella. Wait with me outside."

"Alright, alright! I'm getting up." Try to kill Bella. That was probably one step too far for whoever that guy was.

We stood outside on the porch, waiting for Edward to get here. Alice looked worried.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Here, see for yourself." She held out her hand and I took it.

_"It doesn't matter to me what you are." Bella said, calmly._

_"You don't care if I'm a monster? That I'm not human?" Edward said slowly._

_"You're angry. I shouldn't have said anything."_

_"No, I'd rather know what you're thinking - even if your thinking is insane."_

_"So, I'm wrong again?" Bella asked._

_"That's not what I'm saying." Edward muttered through gritted teeth._

_"I'm right?!"_

"Oh. Took her long enough."

Alice looked up at me, questioning my sanity.

"Well, it's rather obvious. Edward happened to fall in love with a very observant human."

As if he heard me say his name, Edward came speeding into the driveway, nearly hitting the garage.

"Carlisle's in his study." Alice said before Edward could ask.

"Thank you." Edward said, tousling her hair.

"Thank _you_ for returning my call." Alice said.

"Oh." Edward stopped by the door and flipped open his phone. "I didn't even check to see who it was. Sorry."

"I'm sorry too. I didn't see it until it was too late."

"Don't be. You can't be observant all the time. I was going to ask you two to dinner. Did you catch that?"

I was silent. He hurt me and I wasn't about to let it go.

"No." Alice sighed. "I missed that too."

Edward and I stared at her; she was very observant most of the time.

"What were you concentrating on, that you missed so much?" Edward asked.

"Jasper's been thinking about our anniversary and I think I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to get." Alice laughed.

I shook my head in disbelief. "You're shameless."

"Yep."

I sighed; there was no point in staying mad at Edward. _I forgive you. It hurt, but it's not worth staying mad at you. Are you going to tell them? Alice showed me._ I thought.

He sighed. "Yes, later."

"We won't say anything." Alice said.

"Just do me a favor and tell Rosalie when I'm not around." I said, shivering.

"Me too. Now go do what you intend to."

Edward smiled and walked inside the house to get Carlisle.

"Is it any clearer?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No, the same as before."

"It'll get clearer as time goes on, it always has." I said as I stared up at the stars.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The story came out on CNN first. Edward and Carlisle did a great job of covering up any evidence.

"Getting him out of the state; good idea." Alice said.

"It was brilliant. No one will think it is important . . . too far for local news." I added.

Edward hesitated. "Do you mind - "

"Rosalie will drive." Alice cut in. "She'll acted pissed, but she'll love to show off her car."

"See you at school." He grinned and walked away to the garage.

I sighed. "That boy is so in love."

"I know. It'll happen for you too, just wait."

"I hope sooner than later."

"Let's go." Rosalie said. We walked into the garage and I jumped over the door into the backseat, sitting between Jasper and Emmett, while Rosalie and Alice sat in front.

Rose got onto the highway and sped up way past the speed limit and we got to school, even before Edward.

People stared at Rosalie's BMW; it was highly noticeable and out of place in this small town . . . then again, my Camero didn't exactly fit in either.

It began to rain, so Rose put the top of the convertible up.

"We stick out more than ever." I commented. "But truthfully, I'm highly jealous of your car, Rose. Did you put in a new stereo?"

"Thanks and yeah, took me all night." She said.

There was the odd occasion that Rosalie and I would agree on something, and that was cars. I got along with everyone, mostly because I had something in common with them. Rosalie and I loved cars, Emmett and I were still working on pranking everyone in the house a million times before the century ended, Jasper and I were always hiding secrets, Alice and I loved clothes, Edward and I were always left together, Esme and I had been friends for nearly a century and Carlisle and I have known each other all our lives, human and vampire.

"Earth to Ruth, are you there?" Emmett asked, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry. I got caught up in my thoughts."

We got out and stood under the overhang on the cafeteria so we wouldn't get hit by the rain.

Edward pulled into the parking lot with Bella sitting next to him. When they got out, I heard Bella ask. "Why do you have cars like that? If you're looking for privacy?"

"It's an indulgence. We like to drive fast." Edward admitted.

I noticed Jessica a few feet away form us, staring at Edward and Bella, who was wearing his jacket, wide-eyed. I was wondering what was going on in her head.

"Hey, Jess. Thanks for remembering my jacket." Bella said as she took it from her arms.

"Good morning, Jessica." Edward said.

"Errr, hi. I - I'll see you in Trig." She stammered.

_You're dazzling her!_ I joked, using the term he told me Bella had.

"Yeah, see you then." Bella replied.

Edward motioned for me to come over and I did so, after sticking my tongue out at Alice.

"Hello, Bella! How are you?" I asked.

"Hi, Ruth. I'm fine." She replied.

"I know that you know about us." I said in a low voice. "I'm happy you figured it out nearly on your own. You're a clever girl."

She blushed. "Thanks. What you told me was that all lies?"

"You talked to Bella?" Edward stared at me suspiciously.

"Perhaps. It was when you were camping, OK?" I turned to Bella "No, it wasn't lies, I really do hate the cold weather."

"Ironic." Bella mused.

I laughed. "That's what Emmett says."

Edward cut into our conversation. "What are you going to tell Jessica?"

"I thought you couldn't read my mind!" Bella frowned.

"I can't. However I can read hers. She's waiting to ambush you in class."

She groaned. "What does she want me to say?"

"Isn't that cheating?" Edward said.

"No, it's helping."

The bell signaling us to get to class rung.

"See you later, Bella." I said cheerfully as I walked over to Alice and we walked to our English class.

"I'm so jealous that Edward trusts you more than he does me." She complained.

"He'd rather her start meeting the normal ones and then work our way to the insane, you being second last before Emmett."

She punched my arm playfully with surprising force of someone her size. "Not funny."

The class sped by quickly and now I was heading to math, a different class than Bella, but close enough to hear what she would say to Jessica.

"Tell me everything." I heard Jessica demand in the next room.

"What do you want to know?" Bella said.

"What happened last night?"

"He bought me dinner, and then drove me home."

"How'd you get home so fast?" Jessica asked.

"He drives like a maniac. It was terrifying."

_Of all the things to be afraid of, it's his driving. Typical Bella._ I thought idly.

"Was it like a date - did you tell him to meet you there?"

"No, I was very surprised to see him."

"But he picked you up for school today." Jessica said, nearly pleading for details.

"He noticed I didn't have a jacket last night."

"So, are you going out again?"

There was silence, then Bella replied. "Well, he offered to drive me to Seattle this weekend. He doesn't think my truck can make it. Does that count?"

"Yes."

"Well, then - yes."

"Wow, Edward Cullen." Jessica muttered.

"I know." Bella sighed.

"Wait." Jessica said. "Has he kissed you?"

"No, it's not like that."

_Edward, you will. I had to resist the want, but you don't._ I thought, hoping he could hear me because he was no doubt listening hard to Jessica's mind.

"Do you think Saturday . . ?"

"I highly doubt that."

Jessica sighed impatiently. "C'mon Bella! Give me details, please."

"Well, the waitress. You should've seen her flirting with him and he didn't give her any attention."

"That's a good sign. Was she pretty?"

"Yeah, and she was at least 19 or 20."

"Even better. He must like you."

Bella paused again. "I think so, but he's very cryptic."

"I don't know how you can talk to him. He's so . . . intimidating. I wouldn't know what to say."

"There's a lot more to him than that." Bella snapped.

"Like what?" Jessica asked excitedly.

"I can't explain it right, but he's even more unbelievable behind the face."

"Is that possible?" Jessica giggled. "So you like him then?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

"More than he likes me." Bella said "But I don't see how I can help that."

_Oh, Bella. He likes you more than you could imagine._

The bell rang for the next class, Gym.

I met up with Alice and Edward as we walked to the gym.

Making us play sports acting human was practically an insult. Emmett especially was offended greatly. I managed to get out of this class by pretending to be sick. I watched Edward and Alice play badminton, pathetically hitting the birdie to the other team.

The class finally ended.

"See you later." Alice said to Edward as we went to go meet Jasper. "You won't tell Bella I say hello, I suppose?"

Edward shook his head and Alice sighed. "I thought not."

"Have fun." I said, pulling Alice away.

"FYI, Edward, it's going to be sunny on both sides of the sound, so you might want to change you're plans."

"Thank you, Alice." Edward said.

Just as he said that, I saw the future change. It shifted and became clearer. The vision I saw before was more solid than ever, but it seemed there was bits missing. When I was borrowing her power, Alice and I sometimes picked up on different visions that the other didn't. This was one of those times.

I tugged on her jacket. "Come on, Al. Let's go."

"What did you do that for?" She asked me.

"Did you not see that vision?" I muttered. "It was the one we saw before; Edward with Bella in that meadow, but it seems there is more to it, but I couldn't tell."

"Oh. How did I miss that?" She said, looking to see what I had. "I can't see it."

"Hello ladies." Jasper said as we entered the cafeteria.

"Hey, Jazz. Edward isn't going to be sitting with us today." I said.

He nodded. "I see."

We got our trays of food and sat down with Emmett and Rosalie.

"I don't like her." Rosalie said disdainfully.

I rolled my eyes. "You're just jealous that he likes her and he doesn't like you."

"Am not."

I ignored her and paid attention to what Edward and Bella were saying.

"I'm curious. What would you do if someone dared you to eat food?" Bella asked, twisting an apple in her hands.

Apparently, Emmett was paying attention too. He looked at me. "Full piece of pizza he doesn't?"

"You're on."

We looked over at the table Bella and Edward were sitting at, paying extra attention.

"You're always curious." Edward complained, but he picked up a slice of pizza and took a bite from it.

I laughed at the look on Emmett's face and pushed my plate with the pizza on it. "Eat up."

He grimaced with each bite. "I really don't like you right now."

"No throwing it back up on my stuff, alright?"

He muttered something that sounded like "Revenge will be mine."

I laughed some more. "Good luck with that!"

Everyone rolled their eyes at us, but Alice suddenly looked at me seriously.

"We have to tell them now." She muttered so fast I nearly didn't catch it. "The way they're talking is giving it away and Rose will be so mad that if we tell her at home . . . well . . . take a look."

"Tell us what? Alice, Ruth, what are you hiding?" Jasper asked slowly.

I ignored him and put my hand over hers. I saw Edward's Aston Martin burning with Rosalie standing near by.

"Oh." I said, pulling my hand away. "We ought to, while no one can make a huge deal out of it."

"Tell us what?" Rosalie asked.

"Errr, please don't blow up on us, but Edward made us swear not to . . ." I trailed off.

"Bella knows we're vampires." Alice finished.

"What?" Rosalie said through her teeth.

Jasper and Emmett didn't look too impressed, but they weren't nearly as mad as Rosalie.

"Easy, Rose." Emmett said, his arm over her shoulder - restraining her.  
_  
__It's alright, Edward. We had to tell her - better here when she has to pretend like nothing's wrong._ I thought quickly.

"Ruth!" Alice gasped. "The vision - so clear."

I put my hand on hers again and saw the same thing I had before, but this time all of it played out before me.

"The same place . . ." Alice trailed off.

I blocked out the entire cafeteria to focus on this vision. I saw Bella and Edward sitting there, then . . .  
_  
__No, you won't. The future's subjective, you can't possibly - we love her too, Edward. Not the same way, but it's love none the less. Don't hurt her!_ I thought, taking my hand away.

"What's wrong?" Jasper asked.

"You wouldn't care." I replied, ruder than I intended.

The bell rang to signal the end of lunch. We stood up and walked silently to our classes.

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	9. Chapter 9

**We do not own Twilight.**

**Hey guys! This chapter is kinda of a cross between movie and book... The Carlisle/Esme awesomeness at the end there is a deleted scene.... Which sucks because it is really awesome. Like I said.**

**Just FYI, Twilight Sun will be shorter than the actual series... Stephenie loves to rant and most of the books are Edward/Bella scenes where it would not be appropriate for Ruth to be there.**

**We may not be updated for a little while... Spring Break... And this is kind of making us depressed.... So we are randomly writing an awesome scene that happens much later.....**

**Love you guys! Especially the ones that review! Enjoy chapter 9!**

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**Chapter 9 **

In chemistry, we were watching 'Bill Nye: The Science Guy'. I completely zoned out the entire class, just thinking about everything that was going on right now.

Edward _deserved_ Bella. He'd been so unhappy for too long. I had too, but I accepted that I would never find anyone. Now, I wasn't so sure. What if it was _me_, not Edward that had fallen in love? What would everyone else think? What if I hadn't run away from Delaware and had given it a chance? Didn't _I_deserve someone?

NO! I couldn't think about this anymore. It was tearing me apart to see me finally, truly all alone. I was shaking from tears that would never come.

The teacher flicked the lights on a few seconds before the bell rang. I ran out of the class as fast I could while still looking human to the forest.

I walked past my family members at different times but each one just stared at me, not knowing what to say. As soon as I got to the cover of the trees, I ran home.

"Ruth, what's wrong?" Esme asked.

"Nothing." I lied, moving past her to get to the stairs.

"Tell us." Carlisle said, getting up from the couch and blocking my path. He put his hands on my shoulders. "What's wrong? Edward can't hear, everything is safe."

I couldn't hold in my need to cry any longer. I burst into dry sobs. Instead of my sadness turning into anger like some others, it stayed the same.

"It's not fair!" I managed to say.

"What's not fair?" Esme asked, putting an arm around my shoulder.

"Why am I the only one that has to be alone!? I didn't care much before because Edward was always there. Now he's got Bella . . . I can't take it!"

They looked at each other meaningfully. They moved me to the couch and sat on either side of me.

"We talked about this after our meeting." Carlisle said. "And we decided that if you feel the need to leave for a while, it would be alright. I know you are under a lot of stress. Too many secrets hidden for so long aren't a good thing, Ruth."

I nodded. "I know, but I can't tell. It hurts so much to remember; to know I once had everything and it all was taken away. I can live forever, but I don't want to alone. I'd rather die than be alone."

"Don't say that." Esme said.

"But it's true!"

"I know what the feeling is like, to lose everything you had." Carlisle began. "But . . ."

I cut in. "No you don't! You don't know what it's like to be told the person you love is dead, Carlisle. I went through that with you _and_ Matthew! Sometimes I wish you had just let me die knowing you still were alive."

He recoiled his arm that was around me. Esme looked at us. "What are you talking about?"

One secret to reveal. "Remember when I said I was married? My husband was Carlisle," I blurted out.

She stared at us, shocked. "Carlisle, is that true?"

He nodded. "We didn't want to tell you or anyone else."

"Why - you - I don't understand, why aren't you still together?"

I laughed sadly. "When we transformed, it wasn't only our bodies that changed. Our relationship had too. I don't love him the same way anymore. He's more of a father now, just like it is for the others."

"She's more like a daughter than anything, Esme." Carlisle added.

"I knew I had something to do with it." She muttered. It took me a second to realize she was talking about the night Edward and I wrote 'Bella's Lullaby'.

I frowned. "No you don't. This was centuries before you were born. Nothing that happened then means anything to us now."

"And the night you said you were married?" She asked.

"I meant it when I said I'm happy seeing Carlisle with you. Yeah, it's not always great, but you're both so perfect for each other, I can't help but to feel jealous. Ez, I'm jealous because you have everything_I_wanted when I was human; husband, children, and a home. That's all I wanted. That's all I still want, but can never have."

Silence fell over us. No one knew what to say; what _could_ you say in a situation like this?

"I want to go away. I need to get away." I said, breaking the silence.

Carlisle nodded. "Of course. I called Tanya and she said you are more than welcome to stay with them for a few days."

I shook my head. "No. I need to be alone, think things through. I'll go to, I don't know, Seattle."

"How long do you want to stay?" Carlisle asked, taking his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Three days should be long enough."

He nodded and called up a hotel there.

"Help me pack?" I asked Esme, squeezing her hand slightly.

She nodded and we went up to my room.

"Esme." I said as I closed my door behind me. "You can't think about me and Carlisle. I don't want the others to know, well, Alice will already if she's been paying attention and she'll see I want no one to know, so she won't tell. Promise me."

"I promise, I won't think about it any more."

I sighed in relief. "Thank you. There's more to the story, but we can't tell you yet, neither of us is ready, I don't think."

"I can wait."

We began to grab some of my things in silence, but Esme broke it. "So, was he good at kissing then?"

I laughed. "What do you think? He honestly hasn't changed much."

She laughed too. "This is a bit strange though."

"You don't know the half of it." I muttered.

"How long were you married for?" She asked as we sat down on my window seat, the packing finished.

"I think it was around a year because . . ." I couldn't tell her how I knew, not yet. "He was changed a month or two before our anniversary." Not a lie, but still not the truth.

"That's terrible. So you're not married to him legally anymore?"

I laughed. "Clearly. We considered, 'til death do us part' means changing into vampires as well. So I guess we're divorced." I made air quotes as I said the last word. "He loves you Esme." I added. "Every time he looks at you, it's as if he's seen you for the first time."

"Really, I never notice."

"That's because you look at him that way too."

She smiled. And then frowned. "It must be hard for you, to have to put up with us all day and night."

"It's a little sickening yes, but I got used to it. I ought to be going now, though."

She nodded and we walked back down the stairs, my bag over my shoulder. The others were back from school now.

"Where you going?" Emmett asked me, looking at my bag.

"Away, just for a few days."

Carlisle came to me and gave me a piece of paper with the hotel address on it.

"Thanks, dad." I said, hugging him tightly.

He just nodded, hugging me back.

"It's going to be cloudy the whole time you're there, so you can go out in the day." Alice piped up.

"Thank you, Alice." I said, hugging her too. The thanks had a double meaning and she knew that.

I walked over to Esme and hugged her. "Bye, mom. I love you. You know I'll come back."

I went outside and to my Camero. I got in, started it up and pulled out. I sped down the driveway and onto the highway. I drove all night until I reached the hotel I was staying at.

"Hello, Miss Cullen. Here is you're room key." The man at the desk said, timidly. Oops, I guess I should try not to scare the humans too much.

"Thank you very much," I smiled warmly… Well as warmly as I could. And with that, I walked up the stairs to my room.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I enjoyed my three days of being away from everyone. It gave me time to think without my thoughts being heard. I wandered around the city, loving the fact that I was away from all that tormented me daily, but it was torture to be away from them. I loved them so much, even Rosalie.

I thought relentlessly about it and decided I had to tell my life story, no matter how hard it was. Carlisle would back me up; help me if I needed it. He was right; having too many secrets was hard to keep to yourself. I thought that not only my family but, since she was going to be one of us someday, that Bella should know too.

I met a few nice boys in the hotel, there from Oregon for hockey. They were all 16, my physical age. I could tell they thought I was cute, but I didn't feel anything for them like I had for Matthew. Or Carlisle.

_It will happen._ I reminded myself. _Sooner or later it will._

Before I realized, it was time for me to go home. I paid for my room and drove back to my family. I got back to the house close to 7 in the morning.

I walked into the front room and a small, white blur with black hair ran at me.

"RUTH!" Alice cried as she jumped on me.

"Hello to you to Alice." I replied, a bit stunned.

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"Edward invited Bella to come here and meet us!"

"That's great. When?"

"Today."

I dropped my smile. "That's . . . soon."

She frowned at me. "You should tell us, you know. We can't keep Edward out of our heads for too long."

I sighed. "Of course you'd know already."

"Always do."

"What do you want Edward not to know?" He asked from the door.

"Nothing you won't find out later." I replied to our brother.

Esme came down the stairs followed closely by Carlisle. "I thought I heard you."

I ran over and hugged her.

"Better?" She asked.

"As good as ever."

I looked directly at Carlisle. "You told me to tell you when I was ready. I am now." I said those exact words before, in an entire different meaning and time, but he knew what I meant.

He smiled. "Are you sure?"

I nodded, smiling slightly. It was playing out like a flashback. We said the same words before, but we both knew what they meant now.

We laughed and Edward gave us the same look he had in the hospital when I said what my mother had.

"What's so funny?" Emmett asked.

I controlled my laughter. "You wouldn't understand. It was a 'you-had-to-be-there' moment."

A few hours later, Edward said, "I'm going to go get Bella now. Be as normal as possible when I return."

"Vampire normal or human normal?" I asked seriously.

"Be yourself normal."

"That may be possible." I replied.

He just rolled his eyes at me and walked out the door.

I saw Alice and she was nearly bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Calm down, Al." Jasper said, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Sorry."

Minutes later, we heard Edward pull into the driveway.

"Here comes the human." Rosalie said, overly cheerful.

Edward brought Bella into the family room where we all were.

"Hey, Bella." I said, hugging her. She seemed a little surprised, but returned the hug all the same.

"Hi, Ruth."

I stepped back and stood by Carlisle and Esme. Edward cleared his throat. "Bella, this is Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett" He said, gesturing at the couples respectively. "And this is Carlisle and Esme, our parents in all intentions. You know Ruth already."

"It's nice to meet you, Dr. and Mrs. Cullen." Bella said, shyly.

"Please, just call us Carlisle and Esme." Carlisle said.

She nodded nervously.

"Hi, Bella." Alice said, running up to Bella and hugging her. "Oh, you really do smell good!"

"Alice, what are you...?" Edward began.

"Don't worry; Bella and I are going to be great friends."

Edward shook his head. "OK, I'm going to give you a tour of the rest of the house." He led Bella upstairs.

"That went well." Carlisle said.

"They're so cute." Alice cut in excitedly.

"I know." Esme continued.

A few moments later, Emmett and Rosalie went into the garage and Alice and Jasper went upstairs to talk to Bella and Edward. Carlisle, Esme and I were left downstairs.

"How can it ever work out?" Carlisle sighed, walking with Esme to the south wall, covered in windows.

"Alice's been wrong before." I pointed out, crossing behind him and Esme to get a book from the other side of the room.

"But still . . ."

"Carlisle, Bella is what he wants." Esme pushed him up against a wall. "It will work out in the end."

"Hopeless romantic." Carlisle muttered before kissing Esme.

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "You think you could wait until I leave the room?"

They laughed, but did wait until I went upstairs to my room. It was hard to imagine Carlisle and Esme as anything besides parents, but they were 23 and 26 physically, much too young to be taking care of six teenagers. I sighed as I open the book and began to read, trying to get my mind of the daunting task ahead of me.

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	10. Chapter 10

**Hey fan-fic-ers! Sorry about the kind of slow update... Spring Break.... **

**In this chapter, you'll get some big questions answered..... Hope you enjoy!**

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**Chapter 10**

When I finished the book, I went back downstairs to where the rest of my family, minus Rosalie and Emmett, were. Edward was still with Bella, upstairs too. I heard him talking to her, telling her his story. They came back down to see us.

We were silent for a while. Bella kept glancing at the piano.

"You play?" Esme asked, noting Bella's actions.

"Not at all. But it's so beautiful. Is it yours?" Bella said.

Esme laughed. "No. Edward didn't tell you he was musical?"

"No, but I should've known." Bella sighed.

We looked at her in surprise.

"Edward can do everything, right?"

Jasper and I snickered while Edward glared at us, but Esme gave Edward a reproving look.

"I hope you haven't been showing off - it's rude." She scolded.

"Just a bit." He laughed. Esme looked at him smugly.

"He's been too modest, actually." Bella put in.

"Well, play for her." I said. "I mean, _I_would, but I think Bella would rather hear you."

"You can play too?" She asked me.

"Not as good as Mozart here. Too many nights of free time gives you things to do. I mostly read or draw or listen to music rather than play it. In Carlisle's study, I made some of the ones of Volterra. Not to brag or anything." I added, noting Esme's look.

"Then it's settled." Esme said, pushing Edward to the piano.

He pulled Bella along and sat her on the bench beside him. He took a long look at Bella before beginning to play Bella's Lullaby.

"You wrote that?" Bella asked incredulously when he was done.

"You inspired it." Edward replied.

Bella blushed. "That's . . . uhh . . . thanks."

"Do you want me to show you around more?" I asked her. _Carlisle wants to talk to you._ I thought to Edward. Carlisle still hadn't told me what was wrong, protecting me again, but I would find out - I always did.

She looked at Edward, who nodded, then so did she.

"Come on, then. Let's go upstairs." She stood up and followed me.

"So, what do you think of the house? Esme redesigned it."

"It's beautiful and I'm not just saying that. Do you all have hobbies or something you do?"

I nodded. "Yeah, we need something to pass the time."

She suddenly stopped and stared at the end of the hall where Carlisle's father's cross was hanging. I would never tell Carlisle, but I hated his father. I never told him about the conversation he had with me after we married and I wanted to keep it that way.

I heard Edward mutter "What?!" from downstairs and I cut off my thoughts.

"You can laugh if you want. It's a bit ironic, I know."

She didn't laugh, but rather, put her hand out to touch it. "Why do you have this?"

"Nostalgia. It was Carlisle's father's. And that was my mother's." I said, pointing at a small wooden table beneath the cross.

"They must be very old."

I shrugged. "The cross, about 1630's, I guess and the table . . . I think my mother said something like 1590's"

"They collected antiques?" She wondered aloud.

I kept myself from laughing. "No, the cross was carved by his father. It hung in the vicarage where he preached and the table and the table has been in my family for ages. My great grandfather made that as a gift for his wife for their wedding and it got passed down."

"How old are you and Carlisle?" Bella asked quietly.

"Well, he just celebrated his 362 birthday and I will be 355 this November. Did Edward tell you about Carlisle and I?"

"A little, but he only showed me the pictures. I _would_ like to know."

I gauged her reaction and spoke slowly and carefully. "Both of us were born in London, in the 1640's, we believe. Time wasn't marked very accurately then, especially for the common people, but I _do_ know I'm several years younger than Carlisle and it was just before the Cromwell's rule."

She kept herself rather composed, much more so than Emmett had when we told him about us the first time.

"He was the only son of an Anglican pastor. His mother died giving birth to him." I closed my eyes, remembering my own fear of dying.

I heard Edward nearly bursting to come upstairs. _I'll explain later, I swear._"

He was intolerable, Carlisle's father. As Protestants came into power, he was all too quick to persecute any Roman Catholics and other religions. He believed very strongly in the reality of evil. He led many hunts for witches, werewolves and vampires, all of such that my father was quick to follow in his example."

I took a deep breath. "They burned a lot of innocent people, many of whom we grew up with and known our whole lives. As the pastor got older, Carlisle was put in charge, much to my displeasure. We were friends and I thought the hunt for mythical creatures was silly, but none the less, I didn't want anything bad to happen to him. At first, Carlisle was a disappointment. He wasn't quick to accuse, but he was persistent and he found a true coven of vampires. The night he went after them, his group was attacked and all killed but him. Carlisle knew the only way to protect the others was to hide so he dragged himself into the forest where he completed his transformation. He was always . . . protective of me, so when he had enough resistance, he hid in the woods to watch me, make sure I was fine."

I looked at Bella. She was a bit unsteady.

"Are you alright?" I asked. "I'm sorry if it was too much for you."

"No, I'm fine." Curiosity was in her eyes.

"I suspect you have a few more questions."

"A few."

"Then let's go downstairs and I'll tell you my story."

As we headed back down, my thoughts were everywhere.

Keeping my story hidden for centuries is an amazing feat with a mind-reader living with you. They only person in my family that knew the entire thing was Carlisle because he was there and he never told anyone else. I blocked it from my mind because it was painful to remember what I had done . . . how foolish I had been then.

"It's the right thing, you know. I'll tell everyone so you only have to tell it once." Alice had said to me earlier when I told her my plan.

When we were downstairs, I realized everyone but Edward was gone.

"We'll leave you alone for a bit." He said and took Bella into the next room.

I could tell he was doing his best to hide the shock he was feeling from the scattered thoughts I was having about my life.

When Carlisle came downstairs, I cut him off before he could go outside.

"You're working tonight?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Don't go, please. I can't do this without you here. It was hard enough telling Esme that one thing, but all of it . . ."

"Don't worry, Esme will be fine. I'll explain everything to her later if she still doesn't understand. Don't regret it, Ruth, we had no choice." He said as he hugged me tightly, reminding me of when we were still human.

He called the hospital to tell them that he would be a bit late.

I was holding tightly onto Carlisle's arm with the force strong enough to break any human's when everyone came into the sitting room. He pulled his arm from my grip and put it around my shoulder's. Esme came over and he put his other arm around her waist.

He looked down at me and said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

I looked up at him and nodded, trying to think of how to word everything right.

He addressed everyone. "Ruth is going to tell her story. Bella, she's telling it because of you."

Bella blushed. "You don't have to because of me . . ."

I shook my head. "No, Bella. It's a_good_ thing I'm telling everyone. You haven't only changed Edward, you've changed me too. I don't know how and I don't really care, but you have."

Everyone sat down except Carlisle and me, his arm still protectively around me. They all seemed interested, even Rosalie, who only cared for herself.

"Remember what I told you about Carlisle and I?" She nodded. "That's what we told everyone so we could keep any major events about me hidden. Before I begin, Esme, I'm so, incredibly sorry for what I will say. Forgive me, please."

Everyone just stared at me, waiting.

I took a deep breath and began with the beginning. "I was born in November, seven years after Carlisle, in London, England. My parents were loyal Protestants and my dad was the local blacksmith and worked with the local pastor in his search for vampires and other creatures. I lived a pretty normal life of any girl in that time."

I paused, looked at Carlisle, who nodded for me to continue.

"When I was 14, my parents arranged a marriage to the pastor's son, who was a fair bit older than me."

"Hey, I wasn't _that _much older." Carlisle protested.

I glared at him and continued. "That I was fine with, I could've been married to someone as old as the pastor himself in those times, and the son was my friend. Everyone in our area was saying what a great match it was, Ruth Bennett and Carlisle Cullen, absolutely perfect for each other." I added the last sentence with a bitter edge in my voice.

"I hated all those who said we should be married, except for my parents, they didn't know what that marriage would bring to their only child, but unknown to everyone but Carlisle, I'd always been in love with him as a human, as soon as I changed, the feeling wasn't completely gone, just hidden too deep to come back."

Edward broke the heavy silence that fell over everyone when I paused, preparing myself to continue.

"You mean you and Carlisle were together?"

"We were never wanted to be more than friends." Carlisle said calmly. "But our families forced us to be more. I think I was a little in love with her all along as a human."

Esme was taking this pretty well. Her husband had just admitted to being in love with her daughter-like figure and best friend as a human, but she just seemed a bit dazed.

"What did you think of Carlisle, Ruth?" Alice asked.

"Well, I must admit, he had always been good looking and by the time of certain later events, I was fully in love with him. I lost all that love when I was changed though. It went back to just being friends." I shrugged. I was lying; I still loved him a bit and hated myself for it.

"We were married the February of the year I was turning 15, Carlisle was 22 that year. We were hoping we could get away with just being married for a year or so, but my parents and his father were rather_insistent_ we . . . ummmmmm . . . carry on the Cullen family name." Did I honestly just say what I thought I did?

"Emmett, I wouldn't say that if I were you." Edward warned, but it was a futile attempt.

"You and Carlisle did it . . . seriously?! Wait, isn't that rape?" Emmett asked.

If I could have, I would've blushed as dark as Bella was right now. Now the sex jokes from Emmett won't stop. I flicked my eyes over to Esme, who was also looking rather stunned at Emmett's comment.

Carlisle sighed and shook his head. "There was no law against that back then. As Ruth said before, she could've been married to someone my father's age and no one would've cared. Do you want me to carry on for a bit?"

I nodded and buried my head in Carlisle's chest, afraid to see everyone's face at what was to be told next. He kept his arm around me still.

He cleared his throat and continued on from where I left off.

"We put it off for as long as we could. My father threatened to ex-communicate us, and that was a big fear for anyone at the time, so we did as we were told. Around Ruth's 15th birthday, we had a son."

I instinctively placed my hand on my stomach the same way I had when my baby was there and heard a few gasps and Jasper saying, " Really? I never would've thought . . ."

I felt brave enough to look around at everyone. I looked at Edward and Bella, his arms wrapped around her protectively, then Alice and Jasper who looked entirely unprepared for what Carlisle had said, Emmett who looked like someone shot him, Rosalie who looked jealous and finally, Esme. I tried to gage her emotion; it was a cross of shock, hurt, happiness and sadness all in one.

Bella broke the awkward silence that fell upon my family. "What did you name him?"

"William. It was a rather common name then." Carlisle said.

"He looked very much like Edward." I said quietly. "Golden brown hair and emerald green eyes, but we never got to see him grow up."

"What was it like? To have a baby, I mean." Rosalie asked. Of course she'd only be interested in that.

"Painful. Unlike any pain I'd felt before, but it was worth it to see his little face and hold his little hands. I forgot every regret I had for marrying Carlisle the moment I held him in my arms." I said, relishing the memory. There were only a few memories I would never try to forget from my human life. That was one of them.

Edward smiled as he saw my thoughts.

Carlisle added, "For me, _I _was in pain for seeing her in so much. Her mother would only let me hold her hand through it all, I felt so useless."

"You weren't, just having you there was enough, telling me not to give up was all I needed from you." I smiled up at him. I still remembered the feeling of love.

"Enough of your lovey-dovey moment and get to the violence!" Emmett said loudly.

"Alright, alight!" I said, feeling the weight of the regret of my old love for Carlisle lift off my shoulders after admitting it out loud. "Not 5 months after William's birth, Carlisle was attacked by a gang of vampires. You know what happened then."

At this, I paused again. I remembered all too well how much I cried when I heard my husband was dead. The anguish of knowing my son would grow up without a father was unbearable.

"One dark, rainy day in the December after my 16th birthday, a stranger came to London. He had blond hair and was undeniably handsome. He came to my parents home where I had moved with my baby since I thought Carlisle had died and asked for me to come outside. I was wary, but his charm made me agree. He took me out to the forest where Carlisle had been hiding to watch me and his son. We walked far into the forest and I was getting scared by then. Suddenly he stopped and told me his name and what he was, a vampire. I tried to run away, but it was no use. He caught me and said that none of his prey ever escaped him. He threw me up against a large tree and I cracked my head open on it and I felt the blood trickle down my neck. He ran faster than any human could possibly to me and he bit my arm, drinking my blood. The last few moments of my human life I remember are him telling me how great I smelled, the sounds of fighting and the feeling of being burned alive."

Once again, no one spoke.

"Who fought that bad vampire?" Jasper asked curiously.

"Me. I fought him, but couldn't kill him. I followed her and I knew I couldn't interfere with what was planned. I was worried what Ruth may think if she saw me." Carlisle answered. "I still regret to this day that I couldn't save her from becoming a vampire. We had left our son to grow up without a mother and father. He would've been better off with one of us than neither."

"Do you know what happened to William?" Esme spoke for the first time.

"No, we never found out, but I want to know so badly." I said, moving away from Carlisle. I _had_ to be alone.

We were quiet for what seemed like an hour. Bella had been crying, her eyes were red.  
_  
__Maybe it's time for Bella to go home. I have some explaining to do to Esme._ I thought and Edward nodded.

"Bella, I think it is time for you to go home." Edward said.

She nodded. I pushed Carlisle towards Esme to start explaining to her.

I went to Bella and hugged her. "Thanks for coming and listening to my horrible story"

"It wasn't horrible, sad, but not horrible."

I grinned. "Charlie will probably be wondering where you are by now. Good night, Bella."

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	11. Chapter 11

**Hey peeps o' fanfic!**

**This here is a mini-chapter! Because we wanted the baseball scene to be a full chapter, and part of this was needed before baseball.  
**

**This clears up a little and is kinda fun.... and depressing... Yeah so here it is!**

**And the baseball scene won't be up for a while; it's long and difficult.... and intense. Not literally.  
**

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**Chapter 11**

After I hugged her, then I sat in a chair far away from everyone else and curled up, wishing I could be invisible.

Everyone else said their good byes.

"Oh, Bella. I wanted to ask you if you wanted to play baseball with us tomorrow." Alice said.

"Me _play_ baseball?" Bella asked.

"Well, more you watch while we play. There's going to be a thunderstorm tomorrow and that's the only time we can play."

"Sure. I'll come, but why the thunder?"

"You'll see." Edward smiled as he led her outside and to his car.

Carlisle kissed Esme and waving to the rest of us before heading to the hospital. We were all very silent for a while. Edward didn't come back, not that it surprised me. He wanted to be with Bella. Soon, everyone but Esme and I disappeared to their rooms. I wanted to talk to her, but I was afraid . . . how could it end well?

I didn't know how to begin. Lucky, Esme beat me to it. "Why didn't you tell me?" She muttered quietly.

"Because . . ." I began.

"Because you didn't think I could handle it? Because you didn't want me to know? Because you thought it was better to keep me in the dark?" Her voice was rising in anger with every question.

I wasn't prepared for this. Esme was never angry, _never_. I thought she would be disappointed in me rather than mad. Mad wasn't a usual emotion for Esme, even as a human, she was hardly ever angry. It bothered me deeply she chose this particular occasion to express the emotion. If I expected her to be mad, it was about Carlisle and I once being together, but not for not telling her.

"I . . . we . . . huh? I don't get it."

"How could you hide this from me?" She said, hurt.

"I - I don't know." I hung my head. "I honestly don't know, Ez. Perhaps it was because if I could forget it, it never happened. I despise my human life, every part but what I had with Carlisle and it kills me to know what I once had, what I once wanted, is all yours."

I paused and gauged her reaction. She was taken aback slightly.

"I'm not jealous of you." I said quickly. "I've gotten to used to losing . . . it doesn't bother me much, it never has and most definitely never will."

"You haven't lost." Esme muttered.

I looked up at her. "I have. I lost my parents, my friends, my life, my death, my home, my son . . . Carlisle. Everything I accepted to happen when I was human is lost never to be regained."

"You've never lost, Ru. And you're wrong, most of that has been regained. Carlisle and I are your parents as well as friends, not to mention Alice, Jasper, Edward, Rosalie, Emmett and Bella. Your home is with us now and one day, I promise, you _will_ find your love again." Esme said fiercely.

I couldn't help but smile. She was determined, and I knew what she said was true, all but the part about me finding love. It came and I missed the opportunity. And she left out the three things I wanted the most, to live and breath, to die and my son.

"That's the Ruth I like to see." She said, hugging me.

"Hopefully, she's here to stay for a while." I mumbled.

"She better be." Jasper said, coming down the stairs with Alice. "All your depression is annoying."

Esme let me go and I punched him hard, but playfully, in the arm.

"Is that a challenge?" He asked.

"Depends on how you take it." I grinned slyly.

We were headed toward the door in a flash. I turned around and glimpsed Esme and Alice shaking their heads silently. Suddenly, Jasper jumped me from behind.

I was quick to react and I threw him over my shoulder. He smashed into the ground, shaking the trees. Our fight continued for a while longer before Alice told me she needed my help with designing some new clothes for me.

I got up from the ground where Jasper had me pinned. "You win, OK?" I gave in.

"Who's the winner?" He asked, putting me in a headlock.

"You are, Jazz. The ultimate, supreme winner."

"Jasper, let Ruth go!" Alice called.

He did and I ran as fast as possible back to the house before he could catch me one last time.

Alice frowned at me as I walked in and sat beside her at the computer. "You have leaves in your hair." She said, pulling one out.

I combed my fingers through my hair, getting out the leaves and tangles. "Better?"

"Much."

Alice kept me busy showing me different designs and colours she was planning to use. It was a good distraction for me. Getting my mind off of the real world for a while was a great feeling, if only it was this easy to escape every time.

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	12. Chapter 12

**AN: We do not own Twilight.**

**Sorry for the ridiculously long wait. We kinda got writers block, and then life got in the way too... And yeah. Sorry.**

**So here's the chapter! FINALLY!**

**You know... If we don't get at least one review from someone other than Sam... Then we may have to stop writing... (GASP)

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**Chapter 12**

"'Sup dawg?" Emmett asked me early the next day.

"Rose . . . " I said, confused, "What did he watch this time?"

"A 'Pimp My Ride' marathon was on last night." She replied glumly.

It was finally morning and the day of the game. I was grateful the night had turned to day so I could put yesterday where it belonged, in the past.

"So he's gonna talk like this all day?" Jasper asked.

"More than likely."

"Great." I stretched out the word.

"Come on, Edward's going to meet us at the field with Bella in 34 minutes." Alice piped up.

We Cullen kids took our baseball seriously, so we were all getting ready as fast as we could. My hair was all over the place from the little fight Jasper and I had last night so the best I could do was put it into two pigtails and pull a cap over them.

When I went downstairs, I saw that all the others, like me, had changed into our baseball clothes that Alice designed.

"You look like a three year old." Jasper said to me, coming out of the garage with Emmett carrying the bags with our equipment.

"Shut it. Thanks to you, that's all I can do with my hair. What are our teams?"

"The usual, but Esme's playing because Bella will be umpire." Alice said, her sight on the future.

The usual teams consisted of Emmett, Edward, Alice and Esme versus Carlisle, Rosalie, Jasper and myself. Blondes verses Brunettes, I thought.

"Come on m'homies, let's get dis partay started." Emmett said louder than necessary.

"Don't you dare talk like that around Bella, Emmett." Alice said sternly.

I rolled my eyes and followed him out the door. We all ran to the field and began to set up.

Esme, Rosalie, Emmett and I sat on a rock while Alice and Jasper threw a ball back and forth. Carlisle began to mark out the bases when Bella and Edward arrived. I looked up at them and covered the 100 or so yards between us in less than a second.

"Hey, Bella!" I said.

"You're so fast." She seemed stunned at the huge distance I ran over in such a short time.

I grinned "Yeah, we're pretty fast, but you haven't seen anything yet."

I continued, "Edward, took you long enough to get here. Come on, Esme wants to talk to you, Bella. She's usually our umpire, but since you're here, she can play. She'll tell you the rules." _By the way, if haven't noticed yet, Emmett watched waaaayyyy too much 'Pimp My Ride' last night. Just to warn you. We told him to be normal around Bella._ I thought as we walked to the place I had been just a few moments before.

Edward nodded slightly.

"Was that you we heard Edward?" Esme asked him as we came closer. Rosalie left at the same time Esme spoke, her disdain for Bella was apparent.

"It sounded like a bear choking." Emmett clarified.

"And you know that sound too well." I added.

"It was him." Bella said.

"Bella was being unintentionally funny." Edward defended.

Alice bounded over to us. "It's time."

As she spoke, the rumble of thunder shook the forest around us and then crashed towards town.

"Eerie, isn't it?" Emmett winked at Bella.

"Let's go." I said, linking my arm in Bella's. Esme walked beside her.

"You don't play with them?" Bella asked Esme timidly.

"Not usually, I prefer to referee - I like keeping them honest."

"Do they cheat, then?" Bella said.

"We don't cheat!" I defended. Esme gave me one of her motherly looks that made me tell the truth. "Well, maybe a bit."

"You should hear the arguments they get into. Actually, I hope you don't, you would think they were raised by a pack of wolves." Esme said with a slight giggle.

"You sound like my mom." Bella laughed, surprised.

"Well, I think of them as my children in most ways. I never could get over my mothering instincts - did Edward tell you I had lost a child?"

"No." Bella said, taken aback at the turn of conversation.

"Yes, my first and only baby. He died just a few days after he was born, the poor tiny thing." She sighed. "It broke my heart, that's why I jumped off the cliff, you know," she added matter-of-factly.

"Edward said you f-fell." Bella stuttered.

"Always the gentleman." I said.

Esme smiled. "Edward was the first of my new sons and Ruth, the first of my new daughters, but both are older than I, in one way."

"Yeah, but it took you 10 years to find out." I added. "I knew Esme when she 16, Bella. We were good friends then, but she never knew what we were. She fell totally in love with Carlisle when he set her leg after she fell out of a tree. She wouldn't shut up about how handsome my dad was." I laughed.

"But I thought . . ." Bella trailed off.

"We've had so many cover stories over the years. When it was just Carlisle and I, we switched from being cousins, father and daughter and brother and sister all the time. It was easier for us to hide our former life amongst the humans in the last city we were in."

"Anyways . . ." Esme said. "I'm so happy that he's found you, dear. He's been the odd man out too long; it's hurt me to see him alone."

"You don't mind that I'm . . . all wrong for him?"

"No, you're what he wants. It will work out somehow. Sometime soon, maybe Ruth will find what she wants."

"Give it another century or so." I joked, but I was touched by what Esme said. Sure, she said it before, but not in front of anyone but me.

"I don't think it will be a century. Someone will come sooner or later." Bella said, patting my arm consolingly.

I smiled sadly. "I had my chance before; I doubt it will come again."

We stopped at home plate as another roll of thunder began. Rosalie was up to bat and I took my place between her and Carlisle. Esme stood several feet behind home plate with Bella beside her. Edward was in left field, Emmett stood between the first and second bases and Alice was at the pitchers mound.

"All right. Batter up." Esme said in a clear voice that even Edward could hear from where he was.

Alice pitched the ball and it flew into Esme's waiting hands.

Esme threw it back and Alice pitched it again. Rosalie made the bat come around this time and it hit the ball with the sound of thunder.

Edward disappeared into the trees and came back, holding the ball.

"Out." Esme said calmly.

Bella was staring at Edward in complete disbelief. Well, all of us really.

I picked up the bat, took a few practice swings before stepping up to the plate.

I hit it on the first try and just barely got a home run. Esme caught the ball Edward sent flying her way mille-seconds after I slid to the plate.

"Safe." Bella said. Even though I'm sure if she actually knew I was safe; it was pretty close.

I stood up and gave Jasper a high five.

Now, Carlisle was up. He hit the ball on the third pitch. Emmett and Edward both went for the ball at the same time and collided in mid-air with a loud bang, letting the ball fall feet away from them. Carlisle slid the length of a bowling alley to home.

"Show off." I muttered to him.

"Just trying to impress my wife." He joked.

"Like you have to."

Jasper and Rosalie both got out after Edward made two catches in a row.

Emmett's team batted now with me pitching. I threw the ball as fast as I could. We kept getting into small fights as the game continued. Suddenly, Alice gasped.

Edward ran over to Bella at the same time I did. I grabbed his arm to see what Alice had. Three vampires were coming our way and they were not like us, they were nomads. They drank human blood and they wanted to come join our game. Any other time would've been fine, but not with Bella. One of the vampires looked strangely familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen him. Which struck me as odd, because vampires remember everything.

"What is it, Alice?" Carlisle asked.

"Vampires are coming here. They were going away until they heard us playing."

"How many?" Emmett asked.

"Three."

"Three." He scoffed. "Let them come."

_Are they thirsty?_ Esme thought.

I nodded.

"Let's just continue the game." Jasper suggested, but it was too late for that. They were already on the edge of the field.

"Put your hair down." Edward told Bella.

_That won't help Edward. I could smell her from across the field_, Alice thought sincerely.

As they emerged for the trees, I recognized him. It was the same vampire, the one that tried to kill me. The one that took me from my son . . . I felt the anger bubble up inside me. I wanted to kill him, rip him to pieces. Make him suffer for what he did. I let go of Edward's arm and began to walk forward.

What was the last thought I heard from Edward? Carlisle gave him a questioning look and Edward answered under his breath of what I wanted to do.

"No, Ruth!" Carlisle grabbed my arm and twisted me around. All that had happened in less than half a minute.

"Why?" I hissed.

"Because then you'll be no better than him."

I growled lowly, but stopped and stood next to Edward, who immediately grabbed my arm.

_What the hell are you thinking? You can't do that!_ Edward thought.

_That bastard took me from my son! I should be able to have some sort of revenge._

The thoughts of everyone but Bella suddenly came into my head louder as I blocked out Edward.

_What's with her?_

_Oh, God. Ruth, I had no idea . . ._

_What's wrong, Ruth?_

_Pretend like you don't know him._

_Don't do anything stupid._

_Keep calm._

Then the thoughts of the nomads came in clearly.

_There's a lot of them . . . we'd never be able to take them on._

_I wonder if they live here._

_So, we meet again._

I pulled my arm away from Edward's hold.

_Just take care of Bella._ I thought.

My family joined me. Jasper, sensing my anger stood beside me and tried to calm me down.

"Thanks. Keep that up, if you can. We'll need it."

He just nodded and continued to send the emotion to me and everyone else.

The leader had olive-toned skin and glossy black hair. The female had fiery red, long, wild hair. The last, my almost killer, had light brown hair, so light it was nearly blond; exactly as I remembered him, the only difference was the clothes he wore. There eyes were a deep burgundy colour.

"We thought we heard a game." The leader said with an ever so slight French accent. "I'm Laurent; these two are Victoria and James."

I refrained from growling again at them mention of his name. James, I hated it. Didn't suite him at all. Something more dark and evil would've been better.

"I'm Carlisle. This is my family, Emmett, Rosalie and Alice, Esme, Jasper and Ruth, Edward and Bella." He pointed us out, not singling anyone out.

"Do you have room for a few more players?" Laurent asked sociably.

Jasper must still be relieving the tension in the air.

"Actually, we were just finishing. Perhaps another time, if you plan to stay in the area for a while."

"We're heading north, in fact, but we were curious to see who was in the neighbourhood. We haven't run into anyone in a long time."

"No, this region is usually empty besides us and the occasional visitor such as yourselves." Carlisle said.

"What's your hunting range?" Laurent questioned curiously.

"The Olympic Range here, up and down the Coast Ranges on occasion. We have a permanent residence nearby. There's another coven like us in Denali." I spoke up. All eyes shifted to me.

"Permanent? How do you manage that?" There was curiosity in Laurent's voice.

"It's a rather long story. Why don't you come to our home with us and we can tell you." Carlisle said.

What? Bring James to our house? Why?

"That sounds interesting and welcome. We've been on the hunt all the way from Ontario and we haven't cleaned up in a while."

"Don't take offence, please, but we'd rather you refrain from hunting in the immediate area, we must remain inconspicuous and all."

"Of course. We ate just outside of Seattle anyways." He laughed coldly.

All at one moment, the wind ruffled Bella's hair, Edward glared and then growled at James and suddenly both were crouching in an attacking stance.

"What's this?" Laurent asked, surprised.

"She's with us." I said, strongly, stepping forward next to Carlisle.

"You brought a snack?"

"She's with us." Carlisle enforced more to James than the other two.

"But she's human." Laurent was clearly amazed at how we could be near a human and resist their blood for so long.

"Yes." Emmett said, standing next to Carlisle.

James backed off, but Edward stayed in attack form.

"I assume the invitation has been revoked?" Laurent said.

"I assume so." Carlisle concluded.

"We'll be going now." Laurent said and they walked away back into the forest.

I went back to Edward and he took my arm. I heard James' thoughts as he walked away.

_I will get her; all I need is a plan . . ._

"No." I growled.

I pulled my arm out of Edward's hold and started forward again. At the same moment, he and Jasper grabbed both of my arms.

I froze on the spot. I couldn't think clearly. Everyone's thoughts were jumbled with their emotions. All I could feel was ludicrous amounts of anger and frustration. The thoughts were too loud for me to even comprehend what they were saying. I still couldn't move.

"Let go of her! Let go of her! You're over-loading her mind!" I heard Alice cry faintly.

As suddenly as it started, it ended. I put a hand to my head, trying to steady myself.

"Are you alright?" Esme said, putting an arm around my waist to keep me up.

"I-I'll be all right," I said quietly.

Alice and Emmett started running to the jeep. Edward threw Bella over his back and followed them. I followed him.

"Strap her in," Edward ordered Emmett forcefully.

Alice was in the front seat; Emmett and Bella were in the back. I forced myself between them just as Edward fired up the engine. He was murmuring the worst curses that I have ever heard coming out of his gentlemanly mouth.

I could not believe James found us. I thought that he probably would have died by now. I mean, you'd think someone that evil would have gotten into a fatal fight by now. All I want to do is rip that bastard's head off his neck and throw it into a fire. I did my best to control the growl that almost escaped.

When we finally hit the main road, we turned south.

"Where are we going?" Bella asked timidly. No one acknowledged her talking. I was still trying to figure out what happened and the conclusion I came to was that two abilities at once was a big no, at least, until I could teach myself to cope.

"Dammit Edward, where are you taking me?"

"We have to get you away – far away – now." Edward replied, not looking back.

"Turn around, you have to take me home!"

"Emmett." Edward said glumly.

And Emmett slid over and switched places with me so he could grab Bella's hands to stop her from tearing at the straps. I stared out the window absently, trying to forget who was following us.

"No! No, Edward! You can't do this."

"I have to, Bella, now be quiet."

Bella stopped struggling, but refused to be quiet. "I won't! You have to take me back – Charlie will call the FBI! They'll be all over your family – Carlisle and Esme! They'll have to leave, to hide forever!"

I couldn't stand her yelling anymore; it was as if I had a headache from the pain.

"Not like we haven't been there before." I muttered loud enough for her to hear.

"Not over me you don't! You're not ruining everything over me!" Bella said and resumed her struggling.

"Edward, pull over." Alice said suddenly.

When he gave her a harsh look, she continued. "Edward, let's just talk this through."

"You don't understand!" Edward roared in frustration. "He's a tracker, Alice, did you _see_ that?

This wasn't anything new to me; I known for a long time, but I felt Emmett tense.

"Pull over, Edward." I said, reasonably, but with an authoritative tone I used whenever I had to lead. I glanced at Bella and saw her eyes grow slightly at me bossing Edward around.

He slowed down, but only by a few miles.

"Do it, Edward." I said, a bit more forcibly.

"Listen to me, Ruth. I saw his mind. Tracking is his obsession – and he wants her, Ruth – _her_specifically. He begins the hunt tonight."

"I know what he's capable of, thank you very much. I _have_faced him before." I said coldly. "But, we do have to consider Charlie."

"Charlie! You can't leave him there!" Bella said, realization coming to her.

"They're right." Alice added.

The car slowed down again.

"Let's look at our options." I said.

Edward slowed the car again and finally stopped abruptly.

"There are no options." He hissed.

"There are always more options." I said calmly.

"We have to take her back." Emmett said, quiet for his usual self.

"No." Edward was letting his heart rule his head, something I had done before and had lead to me being alone.

"He's no match for us. We will win." Emmett said.

"Once he begins a hunt, he's unshakable. We'd have to kill him."

"All the better as long as I get to do the honours." I added.

"Let's look at our other options." Alice said.

"There – are – no – other – options!" Edward muttered through clenched teeth.

We all fell silent for what seemed like forever before Bella spoke.

"Does anyone want to hear my plan?"

"No." Edward growled. Both Alice and I glared at him.

"Listen, you take me back. I tell my dad I want to go back to Phoenix. I pack my bags. We wait for this tracker to watch and we run. He'll follow us, leave Charlie alone. Charlie won't call the FBI and you can take me any damned place you want."

I involuntarily raised my eyebrows, but I did have to admit, I had no plan and Bella was a smart girl.

"That's not a bad idea, really." Emmett said, surprise in his voice meaning to be an insult.

"It's too dangerous." Edward was always pessimistic.

I visualized the plan and how it would work. Every time, it did. "Edward, this may work. Do _you_have anything better than Plan A?"

Edward was silent. "That's what I thought, now take Bella home." I commanded.

He listened for once and began to drive back to town.

Bella looked at me from behind Emmett.

"Thank you." She mouthed.

"No problem." I mouthed back.

"Emmett?" Bella said out loud.

"Oh, right." And he let go of her hands.

We stopped just behind a small cover of trees before Bella's house. "Ok, here's the plan. Alice, you go to the truck, Ruth and Emmett outside the house and I walk Bella to the door." Edward turned so he could face us all.

"No way." Emmett said. "I'm with you."

"I don't know ho long I'll be gone."

"Until we know how far this is going to go, I'm with you."

"What about the jeep?" Alice asked.

"You and Ruth are driving it home."

"No we're not." Alice said calmly.

Edward started swearing again.

"We all can't fit in my truck." Bella whispered. Then she spoke louder. "I think you should let me go alone."

"Bella, please do this my way, just once." Edward pleaded.

"Charlie's not stupid. If you're not in town tomorrow, he's going to get suspicious." Bella retorted.

"We'll make sure he's safe."

"Then what about the tracker? He saw the way you acted tonight. He's going to think you're with me, wherever you are."

Emmett looked at her in surprise again. "Edward, I think she's right."

"Yes, she is." Alice agreed.

Edward just shook his head.

"Emmett should stay too. He definitely got an eyeful of Emmett."

"What?" He turned on her.

"You'll get a better crack at him if you stay." I pointed out.

"You think we should let her go alone?" Edward asked in disbelief.

"No, Alice, Jasper and I will take her." I said and Alice nodded, backing me up.

"I thought you wanted to kill him." Edward said.

"I'd be no better than he was to me."

Bella also backed me up. "Hang out here for a few days so Charlie doesn't think you've kidnapped me. We send the tracker on a wild goose chase, _then_ come meet me in Phoenix, take a roundabout route of course, and then the others can go home."

"She's diabolical." Emmett laughed.

"And if that doesn't work?"

"There's 7 million people in Phoenix." Bella said matter of factly.

"We'll be with her." Alice pointed out.

"What will you do?" Edward said with sarcasm.

"Stay indoors."

"I kind of like it." Emmett mused. No doubt he was imaging the fight.

"Me too." I added. "If James does end up following us, then you know I'll tear him to bits."

"Shut up, Ruth." Edward took a deep breath. "Bella, if you let anything happen to yourself – anything at all – I'm holding you responsible, understood?"

She nodded and he turned to Alice. "Can Jasper handle this?"

"Give him some credit, Edward. He's been doing very, very well, considering everything."

"Can _you_ two handle this?"

I smiled menacingly and Alice growled suddenly.

_Think were not tough enough?_ I thought just to bug him.

Edward smiled at us, then added. "But keep your opinions to yourselves."

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**And "Gangsta Day" will have mild (and funny) significance. Later. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys! Mostly know as Sam.... Sorry for the wait... Our lives and siblings got in the way. Again. I know, lame, but what are you gonna do?**

**Here's the chapter for you. Don't forget to review!**

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**Chapter 13**

All of the house lights were on when we pulled into the driveway. I was sitting as silently as I could. So were Alice, Emmett and Edward. We were listening for anything that sounded unusual.

"He's not here." Edward announced.

"Yet." I muttered quietly, taking off my cap and getting out of the jeep.

"Alice, Emmett, Ruth." Edward commanded.

We silently disappeared into the dark. We stuck close to each other as we snuck around the house.

"Ruth, what did you mean when you said you've faced him before?" Emmett asked.

I rolled my eyes. Let it be Emmett the last to catch on. "He was the vampire that attacked me, Emmett. The one who made me into this." I gestured to myself. "The one Carlisle stopped from killing me. The one who ruined my life. Now focus on what we're supposed to be doing."

"Sorry, sis. I didn't know."

"Don't mention it. Really." I didn't want to remember what I lost. My son . . . what happened to him? I was desperate to know.

Bella was yelling inside, something about breaking up with Edward and she wanted to leave. I was too focused on guarding the house from James. I wouldn't let him kill anyone else.

I heard a branch snap. Then I smelled him. Emmett and Alice froze exactly at the same moment I did. I wanted to get him now and he wasn't far, only a few hundred feet or so. No sooner did I think it, Alice had her arms around me.

"Alice." I growled.

"No." She muttered. "Emmett, hold her."

He did as she asked. There was not point in fighting Emmett, so I tried to be quiet and hear where he was. He was slowly backing away from the house. Good, leave. You're not going to win this fight.

The door to the house slammed shut and that woke us from the revere we'd fallen in.

When I heard Bella's truck pull away and the scent of the tracker faded away, I wrenched myself out of Emmett's grip and headed to the jeep.

"You follow on foot, Emmett. Alice, drive." I said as I got into the passenger seat.

Emmett ran off after the truck and Alice got in behind the wheel.

"You think this is going to be OK?" I asked as we were on the highway to our home. I pulled my hair out of its pigtails, let it fall loosely around me and put the hair ties around my wrist.

"Yes. But the tracker's following us."

"I wish I could forget my human life . . . save me the trouble of remembering him and everything I had. Do you every wish you remembered?" I asked.

She thought about it for a moment. "Yes and no. Yes, I wish I knew who changed me, but no, I don't want to remember what I missed out on."

We drove by a bend and Bella's truck was in front of us going too fast for it to be Bella driving.

I saw Emmett come out of the woods and hop onto the truck's flatbed. We weren't far from home.

We drove into the driveway and pulled up to the house. As soon as I stepped outside, I smelled another person . . . someone who wasn't family.

I bolted it inside before everyone else and saw Laurent standing in our house. What is he doing here? He's the enemy. I repressed another growl and instead, looked at Carlisle. "Explain." I whispered between my teeth, still using all my willpower to not growl.

There was shock on Esme's face for me talking to him like that. I had only ever used that tone once in my existence before this.

"Calm down, he's going to help us." Carlisle said as the others entered from outside.

I relaxed my tense muscles, but frowned.

"He's tracking us." Edward announced as he walked in, glaring directly at Laurent.

"I was afraid of that." Laurent replied, face unhappy.

Alice darted to Jasper and whispered to him the plan we thought of. She looked at me with a look that said, "Wait here." I nodded and she and Jasper flew up the stairs.

Rosalie moved to Emmett's side and glared at Bella, who stood next to Edward, holding his arm tightly.

"What will he do?" Carlisle asked, his voice cold.

"I'm sorry. I was afraid when your boy defended her that would set him off."

"Can you stop him?"

Laurent shook his head. "Nothing stops James when he gets started."

I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it again and thought it instead. _Carlisle stopped him. Once. But I don't think he can do it again. I don't think he_wants_ to do it again. And he didn't kill him, he saved_me_.__  
_  
Edward glanced at me quickly and tilted his head ever so slightly, asking me what I ment.

_I mean, it gotta be one of us. You or me or Jasper or Emmett or Alice. Rosalie won't have any part of anything to do with saving Bella. Carlisle and Esme won't kill . . . I don't think even I could, but I'd do it. (Well yeah maybe I could… This is so not like me!!)_, I thought the last part more to myself.

"We'll stop him." Emmett promised, looking quite pleased. I knew it was the only solution - we all did.

"You can't bring him down. I've never seen anything like him in my 300 years. That's why I joined his coven."

Of course Laurent wasn't the leader; I was too focused on James to even consider.

Laurent looked at Bella, then back to Carlisle. "Are you sure it's worth it?"

Edward roared in rage. Everyone in the room jumped back a little. I gave Edward a glance, then turned to Laurent and said. "I'm afraid you're going to have to make a choice."

"I'm intrigued by the life you created here." He began slowly. "But I won't get in the middle of this. I bear none of you any enmity, but I won't go up against James. I think I will head north - to that clan in Denali."

I nodded and he continued. "Don't underestimate James. He's got a brilliant mind and unparalleled senses. He's every bit as comfortable in the human world as you seem to be, and he won't come head on . . . I'm sorry for what's been unleashed here. I'm truly sorry."

"We forgive you." I said.

"Go in peace." Carlisle added.

Laurent took a long look around him and then hurried out the door.

"How close?" Carlisle asked Edward.

Esme already was at the hidden keypad. She typed in the numbers and the steel shutters began to close over the glass wall. Bella stared at them in astonishment.

"About 3 miles out past the river; he's circling with the female."

"What's the plan?"

"We head them off . . .

"While Jasper, Alice and I run Bella south." I put in.

"Then?"

"As soon as Bella's clear, we hunt him." Edward concluded.

"I guess there is no other choice." Carlisle said, grimly. He didn't enjoy killing anything, I didn't either, but we had to do it to live.

"Get her upstairs and trade clothes." Edward said to Rosalie.

"Why should I? She's been nothing but a menace to us - a danger you've chosen to inflict on all of us."

"Rose . . ." Emmett murmured, putting one hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off.

I sighed. I wanted to go but . . . "I'll do it."

"Are you sure?" Edward asked.

I was already walking towards them. "We don't have a choice. If I stay, I get a better shot at James. Do you mind?" I asked Bella, holding my arms out to her.

She shook her head and I picked her up easily. I ran up the stairs to my room and I didn't bother to turn on the light; I could see just as good and I thought Bella would want her privacy.

"What are we doing?" She asked breathlessly.

"Trying to confuse the smell. It won't work long, but it should long enough to give him a fake trail." I answered, pulling off my shirt.

"I don't think I'll fit . . ." Bella began, but I grabbed the bottom of her shirt and started to pull it off. She fumbled with her jeans button.

"Don't be silly, we're _exactly_ the same height and build." I said, handing her my shirt. I didn't want to get my scent all over her clothes, so I took one of the hair ties and wrapped it around my hair and pulled it up, off my neck. I put her shirt on.

She pulled off her jeans and began to put on my shirt. I took my pants off and put hers on. I handed her mine to put on when she was done with the shirt. When we were both changed, I pulled her to the stairs. Alice was there holding a small, leather bag on one hand. We grabbed Bella by her elbows and half carried her down the stairs.

"Sorry about that." I muttered to Bella as Carlisle handed me a tiny, silver cell phone. I shoved it into the pocket of Bella's jeans. He handed one to Alice too.

"Ruth and Rosalie will be taking your truck, Bella." Carlisle said.

She nodded and glanced warily at Rosalie.

"Alice, Jasper - take the Mercedes, you'll need the darker tint in the south."

I couldn't help but sigh in relief. My Camero had dark tinted windows as well, but Carlisle knew how well I took it last time her lent out my car with out permission.

Both smiled at me and nodded.

"We're taking the Jeep. Alice, will they take the bait?"

Alice closed her eyes and became incredibly still.

"Ruth, help."

I walked over to her and grabbed her hand and closed my eyes as well. I saw the Jeep drive followed by James and the truck followed by Victoria. We opened our eyes simultaneously.

"He'll track you . . ." Alice began.

"And Victoria will track Rosalie and I."

"We should be able to leave after that." Alice concluded.

"Let's go." Carlisle said.

Edward suddenly rushed over to Bella, kissed her quickly, then left with Carlisle, Esme and Emmett.

We stood for what seemed a long time before I felt the phone vibrate. I had it to my ear in a flash.

"Now." Carlisle said through the phone.

"Now, Rose." I repeated as I hung up.

She stalked out the door, but I touched Bella's shoulder as I passed.

"Be safe. And Bella, you're worth it, you really are." I muttered with a smile. She blushed as I left.

Rosalie was already in the truck and starting it up when I got in. She didn't talk to me the entire time we drove. I hit the speed dial for the phone in the Jeep.

"She following?" I asked, not bothering with a hello.

"For a while now, yes." Carlisle replied. "They've already left."

"Good." I said.

"Ruth?"

"Yes?"

"Don't risk yourself. I didn't save you from him to see you get hurt again by him." And with that, he hung up.

"Bye to you to." I murmured. I couldn't go against what Carlisle wanted, I just couldn't.

Bella was fine . . . she was going to be safe, but I couldn't help feeling like this fight was just beginning.

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**Now don't think I don't know there are people who added this story to their favorites but have not yet reviewed... Is that not kind of pointless. Oh well, I you Alicia and Megan, and/or Twilight Sun PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review. Love ya to peeps, and see ya (not literally unless you're Sam... Which you probably are...) next chapter.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey peeps! Sorry again about the long update. It'll probably be faster once school's over. Or not. We'll see. Here's chapter 14**

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**Chapter 14**

Leading away James and Victoria went well. Rosalie and I had been driving all night when Victoria stopped following us.

"She must've gone back to town." Rosalie concluded.

"We can't leave Esme to protect the whole town." I pointed out.

She turned the truck around so fast that it protested and we got back home within 6 hours.

"She stopped following us." Rosalie said as we walked inside our house.

Esme looked concerned. "What should we do?"

They looked at me for a solution. I thought for a minute. "Well, the entire town may be in trouble, so you two are going to protect it . . . especially Chief Swan."

"And you?" Rosalie asked.

"I'm calling up the airport and catching the first flight to Phoenix." With that, I called the airport in Port Angeles and booked a ticket on a flight that was leaving within 2 hours.

Esme and Rosalie left after I made the call and I gave them the phone. I was left alone. I went to my room and changed into my own clothes and packed a small bag with Bella's clothes and some of mine. I grabbed my own cell, too.

I went back downstairs, checked my phone's clock and left the house. I didn't bother taking a car - I could run quicker anyways. When I reached the airport, I called Carlisle.

"Ruth?" I heard Edward's voice through the phone.

"Yup. I'm at the airport catching a plane to Phoenix. Victoria stopped following Rose and I near morning." I talked fast and quiet as I walked through the sliding doors.

"He's still following us, now. We're near the Canadian border at the moment."

I heard Emmett singing loudly in the background. "How long has he been at it?"

"A few hours." Edward replied glumly.

"Put him on."

I heard Edward tell Emmett I wanted to talk to him and the singing stopped. "Ruthie!"

"Emmett, stop singing before you drive Carlisle and Edward crazy."

"But I'm bored." He whined.

"Hold on a second." I went to the counter and got my ticket. As soon as I was done, I put the phone back to my ear. "Emmett, stop or I'll tell Rose not to give you anything for a whole month . . . and I mean _anything_. Not even a kiss."

"You wouldn't _dare_." Emmett replied, shocked. I heard Edward and Carlisle laughing loudly in the background.

"I told you I'd get you back and I'm sure Rosalie would _love_ to help me after the prank you pulled on her a few years ago." I shuddered as I remembered that particular moment. Unfortunately for me, vampires have great memories.

For a while, all I could hear was laughter. "I need an answer, Emmett. I'm getting on the plane soon."

"Fine, I'll stop. Bye." He replied, dejected.

"Bye." I hung up the phone and laughed silently as I got onto the plane.

The ride was only a few hours and it was 10 pm when I got to Phoenix. I looked around and Jasper was standing in the crowd.

"Alice told me you were coming." He smiled.

"That's why I didn't bother calling."

I looked around the terminal and saw a young couple reuniting. The girl jumped into the boy's arms and kissed him. A small twinge of sadness swept through me as I was reminded of being alone.

Jasper sensed this and pulled me into a hug. "Better?"

"I guess." I said, smiling up at him.

He let me go, but kept a protective arm around me and we walked together outside in the hot, dry air.

"You won't be alone forever, Ruth. Remember that."

"That's what everyone says." I sighed.

"Then why don't you believe it?"

I didn't reply. The Mercedes came into view and we got in. I still didn't say anything as Jasper drove to the hotel and brought me up to the room they were in.

"Bella's sleeping so be quiet."

I nodded as we silently went inside. Alice jumped on me and squeezed me in a hug. "I was worried about you." She whispered.

"Well, I'm here now and Rose and Esme are alright, too. As are the other boys."

We watched talked quietly. I began to notice I was thirsty near morning.

"Here." Alice said, holding out a black container with a lid and straw. "Carlisle gave us some, knowing we wouldn't be able to hunt."

"Is it . . . human?" I asked. "Because I'd rather not have my eyes turn crimson."

She shook her head. "No, it's deer. Don't ask how he got it, but he did."

I took a sip and felt a whole lot better. I took my time, making it last because I didn't know when I would get to feed again. I finished just as Bella came out of her room.

"Hey, Bella." I said, hugging her.

"When did you get here?"

"Last night."

Bella sat on the couch next to me. "What was in there?" She asked, indicating my cup.

"Blood. Not human, obviously." I replied with a wink.

"Oh."

"You look tired, go back to bed." I said, concerned.

Bella didn't argue. Alice followed her.

"Has she been like that the whole time?" I asked Jasper.

"Pretty much."

Silence fell over us. There wasn't anything to talk about. We stared at the TV, not really watching.

We heard Alice telling Bella how to become a vampire after being asked.

"That's what happened to Ruth. James bit her, but didn't kill her because of Carlisle. A few more seconds and Ruth would've been dead. We never told her that before, but she has every right to know." I heard Alice say.

I flared with anger. Why keep something so important away from me? Then again, I kept my whole human life a secret for so long. I let the anger pass. More silence, then Alice saying. "Something's changed."

I grabbed a hotel pen and paper and we were at the door the same time as Alice. She was focused on the future.

"What do you see?" Jasper asked, leading her to sit on the side of the bed. Bella was sitting up, concerned.

"A room. Long, with lots of mirrors and wood floor. He's there in the room, waiting. A gold stripe around the middle of the mirrors."

"Put your hand on my arm, Alice." I said. She obeyed and I saw what she was seeing. I drew quickly on the paper using the bedside table.

"Where's the room?"

"I don't know, something's missing - another decision hasn't been made yet."

"How much time?"

"Soon. He'll be there today or maybe tomorrow. It depends. He's waiting in the dark now.

"What is he doing?" Jasper asked in a practiced manner.

"Watching TV . . . no, running a VCR, in the dark, in another place."

"Can you see where?"

"Too dark."

"And the mirrored room, what else is there?"

Just what I said before. But there's a big black table with a stereo on it."

I added it to my drawing in the correct place.

"Anything else?"

Alice and I shook our heads. She moved her hand from me.

"What does it mean?" Bella asked.

I stared at my picture. It was a rough sketch of what we'd seen, but enough to tell us something. "The tracker's plans have changed, but now it depends on whatever decision hasn't been made yet."

Just then, Alice's phone rang.

"Carlisle." She breathed.

She listened for a moment. "Yes." She replied with a glance at Bella."

"I just saw him." She described the vision again. "Whatever made him get on that plane . . . it was leading him to those rooms." Another pause. "Yes." Alice held out the phone to Bella.

"Hello?" She breathed.

"Oh, Edward. I was so worried."

I picked up my drawing and left the room. Alice and Jasper followed after me.

We puzzled over the drawing while I fixed it up here and there.

Bella came in and looked over my shoulder. "It a ballet studio."

We looked at her in surprise. "You know this room?" I asked.

"Well, I took lessons when I was 8 or 9, but the stereo was here . . . "She pointed at another spot. "And that's where the bathrooms were and there was no TV. There was a window in the waiting room. This is the perspective of the room if you were looking through it."

"Is it the same room?" Jasper asked.

"I don't think so. Most studios look the same . . . don't they?"

"Would you have any reason to go back?" Alice asked.

"No, I haven't been there in nearly 10 years."

"So there's no way you could be connected to it?"

"No, I don't think the same person even owns it." Bella replied.

"Where was it?" I asked in a grave tone.

"It was just around the corner from my mom's house. I used to walk there after school . . ." Her voice trailed off.

"It was here in Phoenix, then?" I whispered.

She nodded. We stared at the drawing silently again.

"Is that phone safe?" Bella asked.

"It would just trace back to Washington." Alice replied.

"I'm calling my mom. She can't be here if . . ."

"James is here." I concluded.

Bella took the phone and left a message for her mom then gave the phone back to Alice. Bella fidgeted while us vampires stayed completely still. Eventually, Bella fell asleep waiting for the phone to ring. I wished I could sleep to, just to forget everything for a while.

I picked Bella up gently and carried her to the bed. "Sleep well, Bella." I whispered and went back to the others and stared at the TV, not really seeing what was on. My mind was too occupied to focus on any one thing.

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**You know what to do my friends. Turns out we did get some reviews so we'll keep writing.... Maybe.... Depends on what happens between now and the end of the "twilight" sector. That meaning once we finish prom. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys! We do not own any of the characters in this story. Except for Ruth, I guess. We did make her up...**

**Well here's chapter 15 for you! Hope you enjoy it! **

**And there definitely won't be anything up for a week or two after this; we have exams. Great, I know. **

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**Chapter 15**

I came back to the couch and sat on Alice's left, Jasper on her right. We didn't talk much; we were all caught up in our thoughts trying to decode why James would go to a ballet studio.

A few hours later, Alice gasped for a second time. "Something's changed. I can see another room now."

She flipped over the paper I drew the studio on and sketched another room. It looked sort of like a house.

Bella came in and sat next to me to peek at the picture. "Did she see something more?"

"Yes. Something's brought him back to the room, but it's light now." I replied.

We watched Alice draw more and more details. I was right; it looked like a family room. But where . . .

"The phone goes there." Bella whispered, pointing to a small table Alice just drew.

We stared at her.

"That's my mother's house."

Alice was already off the couch, dialing a number on the phone. She was no doubt calling the others. Jasper got up and sat uncharacteristically close to Bella. He put his hand on her shoulder, increasing the effect of his power over her.

I got up and stood next to Alice.

"He's going to her mom's house, Edward." Alice muttered at vampire speed . . . there was no way Bella could even comprehend what she was saying.

"Yes, good. It's better if you come. All of you."

She paused. Then, "Right, someone has to stay and protect our home. Alright, bye."

She hung up and there was a desperate look in her eyes . . . something I hardly ever saw in her.

"Bella, Edward is coming to get you. He and Emmett and Carlisle are going to take you somewhere, to hide you for a while." Alice said. Bella just looked at her numbly.

"Edward is coming?" Bella asked.

"Yes, he's catching the first flight out of Seattle. We'll meet him at the airport and you'll leave with him."

"But my mother . . . he came here for my mother, Alice!" Bella cried out in hysteria despite Jasper calming her.

"The three of us will stay here until she's safe." I reassured.

"I can't win. You can't guard everyone I know forever. Don't you see what he's doing? He's not tracking me at all. He'll find someone, he'll hurt someone I love . . . I can't - "

"We'll catch him, Bella." Alice said.

"What if you get hurt, Alice? Or Ruth? Or Jasper? Do you think that's OK with me? Do you think it's only my human family he can hurt me with?"

I was touched by Bella considering us as family, but I knew we needed her to be calm. Alice looked meaningfully at Jasper and he sent a wave of tiredness sweep through the room.

"I don't want to go back to sleep." Bella snapped.

She walked to her room and shut the door. Neither Alice nor I followed her. Bella needed time to think things through and see that this was the only way to keep everyone safe . . . her included. We sat silently for at least half an hour.

"She'll get over it." Alice muttered at vampire speed so Bella couldn't hear.

"I know, but she's right. We can't protect everyone forever." Jasper replied.

"We'll get him . . . I know we will. We're smarter than him because there are more of us." I said. "We've got all the advantage over him."

"Ruth, please don't make this a revenge attack. We know what he did to you was wrong, but don't be reckless." Alice said, worried.

"I'll be fine." I said, tonelessly. I did my best to hide my anger, but it was no use.

"You always say that and yet, you're lying." Jasper concluded.

"How am I feeling then?" I asked, angrily.

"You want to talk. You can't keep everything hidden inside you anymore. Your fear of the truth is making you upset. Stop me when I've said enough."

"Alright, alright, you've said enough!" I said, holding my head in my hands. "Yes, I'm afraid. You have no idea how much I lost because of him."

"Do you want to talk about it now?" Alice asked.

I nodded. "Not about James, though."

"Tell us something happy, then. From your human life. Anything you can remember." Jasper said.

It felt a bit funny . . . like counseling, but I found myself telling my brother and sister about Carlisle and I growing up. "When I was 12, Carlisle used to take me to a small clearing in the woods near my parents house whenever I was sad. I used to tell him about the latest suitor my parents arranged for me to marry; there was four or so and all were old and ugly." I added with a laugh. "Carlisle was the fifth choice and the only person I ever ended up loving. But, whenever I would cry, he would make me laugh. He would tell me funny stories or do something silly or tell me the next man couldn't be any worse than the one before."

"Why did you sign 'EC' on your paintings from Volterra?" Jasper asked.

"Oh, well, that's easy. My full name was . . . is, Ruth Elizabeth Cassandra Bennett, and then later added on when I was married, Cullen. I was named for my mother, Ruth. To cause less confusion, everyone called me Elizabeth. I started using my first name when we came to North America. It took Carlisle a while to get into the habit of calling me Ruth."

Alice smiled a bit. "Tell us about your son."

I sighed. "William was absolutely the most adorable baby I'd ever seen. His hair was sort of like Edward's, only blonder. His eyes were dark green, like mine were. I miss that colour . . ."

"How old was he when you last saw him?" Jasper asked.

"He was a year and a month old for me, about 4 and a half for Carlisle when he was human. But like I said, he protected us, so he saw him more after he was a vampire."

"You really don't know what happened to him?" Alice asked.

I shook my head. "The Volturi were very keen on us to forget our past life together, so they never let us return to England. When I went before moving to Forks, I was searching for him most of the time, but I never found anything."

"I'll help you. When this is all over, I'm going to help you find him." Alice said, determined.

I smiled. "Thanks, Al. That means a lot to me."

"I might as well help, too." Jasper said, fake sighing.

"Of course, Jaz." I replied, with an eye roll. "But right now, I think you ought to check us out of the hotel and find us somewhere closer to Bella's mom's place."

"Right, I'll get on that." He said and left.

Just then, the phone rang. Alice picked it up. Bella came out of her room to join us.

She was talking so fast, even I had a heard time hearing her. All I caught was "Safely away", "Canada" and "Bye".

"They're just boarding their plane. They'll land at 9:45." Alice said, glancing at the clock that read 5:30 AM.

"Where's Jasper?" Bella asked.

"He went to check out." I said.

"You aren't staying here?"

"We're relocating closer to your mother's house."

The phone rang again. Alice answered.

"Hello? No, she's right here." Alice mouthed that it was Bella's mom and handed the phone to her.

"Hello?" Bella said as she wandered back into her room.

I heard her sigh. "Calm down, Mom. Everything's fine, OK? Just give me a minute and I'll explain everything." A pause, then. "Mom?"

"No, Mom. Stay where you are." She said. I sat down on the couch. I felt sort of ashamed, so I tried to tune out her words.

A few minutes later, Bella came out if her room after saying good bye. When she returned to the main room, she looked tired.

"My mom was worried and she wanted to come, but I told her to stay away."

"We'll make sure she's fine, Bella, don't worry." Alice said.

Bella looked at a blank paper. "If I wrote my mom a letter, would you leave it at her house for me?"

I nodded. "Of course, Bella." I said carefully. I could tell she was slowly falling apart.

She took the paper and a pen to her room to be alone.

"She's not OK." I muttered.

Alice nodded. "I know, but she'll never tell us what's bothering her."

We stared at each other for a moment, hoping that the other had the answer we were looking for; that everything was going to be alright. Of course, that was one thing that only time could tell.

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**You know what I'm gonna say. So just do it. Now. I'll make you fictitious cookies. That may be a bit lardaceous. Yes that's a word. Search it on . You'll see. And while your at it, REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey guys!! What's up!! I realize we haven't updated in forever and a day, but we get lazy over summer... I know excuses excuses... Anyway here's chapter 16. Finally.**

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**Chapter 16**

Bella came out of her room and put the envelope on the small table. She sat next to me on the couch; Alice was sitting at the desk. Jasper still hadn't come back yet.

I glanced over at Bella, she was afraid, that I knew, but there was something else bothering her . . . guilt. She felt guilty about something, but I didn't have time to guess what it was. She gave a sudden start and said, "Alice?"

I turned to my sister, who was gripping the edge of the desk tightly in both hands. Alice didn't react when Bella called her name, but her head was shaking back and forth and her expression was dazed. I walked over to her quickly and motioned to reach for her hands and take them off the desk, but stopped an inch away from her. I was afraid to touch her because I made the visions more vivid and solid which ment if it was something bad, I would only help it along.

"Bella, come here." I said quickly.

Bella obeyed and she went to put her hand on Alice's when Jasper came into the room.

"Alice!" And he was right there, putting his hands over hers and prying them off the desk. "What is it?"

Across the room, the door swung shut with a click.

"Sorry, Jasper." I apologized. "I wanted to help her, but I was worried I'd make it worse."

"It's fine."

"Bella." Alice said, suddenly.

"I'm right here." She replied.

Alice's face was still blank, but she turned and looked at her. She wasn't talking to Bella, she was answering Jasper.

"What did you see?" Bella and I asked at the same time.

Jasper glanced from Bella to Alice. Bella seemed a little more relaxed than she was before. Alice came out of her trance.

"Nothing really." She said. "Just the same room as before. Did you want breakfast?" She added the last to Bella.

"No, I'll eat at the airport." Bella answered then left to the bathroom. I heard the shower turn on.

I looked at Alice again. She was overly calm, a very un-Alice like state. If you didn't know her well, you would've guess she was fine, but I knew her very well and could tell that she lied about the vision in part, if not all.

When Bella got out of her shower, we went downstairs and got into the car. Jasper and Alice were in the front, while I was in the back with Bella. Alice was facing Jasper, but was glancing at Bella every three seconds.

I looked out my window and stared at the buildings passing by. They were all a few shades darker through my sunglasses.

"Ruth," Bella asked me. "How does your power work? Edward told me that it increases the ability, but I didn't really understand."

I turned to look at her. "Well, I don't understand it fully either. From what I worked out, I'm like a super-charger and absorber." She looked at me blankly. I thought about how I could explain it. "OK, you know the Energizer Bunny from those commercials? I'm like that. I increase the ability, depending on what it is and can use it for my own use. For instance, with Edward, the range is increased and the voices, louder. With Jasper, the emotions can be read and controlled easier and faster. With Alice, the visions are stronger, clearer and more definite. Remember at the baseball field when Jasper and Edward both grabbed my arms?" Bella nodded. "Well, my body couldn't control them both. It probably didn't help with everyone's emotions and thoughts all over the place, though." I added grimly.

Bella nodded. "I see. What about you, Alice?"

"Things change . . . others are more certain, like the weather. People are harder because they are always changing their minds. I only see the course they are on while they're on it. Once they change their mind, no matter how small of a decision, the whole future changes."

"So, you couldn't see James in Phoenix until he decided to come here?"

Alice nodded, wary of Bella's question. I didn't think much of it, but then again, I didn't know what Alice had seen.

We got to the airport and Bella led us to the place where the passengers unloaded. She seemed to be happy that she knew more about where we were than we did.

Jasper and Alice spent a long time discussing the pros and cons of destinations on the board. I stood patiently and listened for ten minutes.

"What about Chicago, or New York, or Atlanta, or even Winnipeg? Does it really matter as long as she's safe?" I finally blurted out.

"Chicago sounds the best . . ." Alice said.

"Sure. Ruth's right, as long as she's safe, it doesn't matter." Jasper added.

We sat down in an empty row of chairs and pretended to people watch while actually watching Bella.

Bella pulled out the envelope and handed it to Alice. Alice nodded and tucked in the flap. We waited and waited and waited. It was a good thing I wasn't human, because I had been rather impatient and the sitting was driving me crazy. I offered to take Bella to get some breakfast several times just for a change of scenery, but each time she declined.

Thirty minutes until the flight was supposed to be in, Bella suddenly said, "I think I'll eat now."

I stood up. "I'll go with you."

"Do you mind if Jasper comes instead? I'm feeling a little . . ." Bella trailed off.

I sat down and Jasper stood up. Alice and I watched the two of them walked away and around the corner.

"She's in the room with him, that's what I saw." Alice said quietly.

I snapped my head to her. "What!"

"Bella's going to meet up with James. I didn't tell you or Jasper so she could. Please don't be mad at me, but it's what she wanted to do. We can follow her."

I fought with myself to stay calm and not blow up in anger. I clenched my fists tightly. "Alice, I understand you're intention and I admire you for that." I stood up and she followed me as I walked to where Jasper was. I finished my thought when we were all standing together. "You're lucky James likes to play with his food."

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